"I have gone through a period of terrible ridicule in the media. I won't say it has been easy - it has been very hard. . ." Dana told ITV's Richard and Judy yesterday morning.
Convening Richard, Judy and Dana - all daytime TV presenters - in the same studio might have been expected to result in a smotheringly cheesy smarmathon. But while there was, inevitably, some stagey, soft-focus sincerity, there were surprising shards of flint in some of the exchanges.
It's easy to forget that Dana is a TV pro - not just as a singer, but as a presenter. . . a professional pedlar of a positive persona. If she appears suspiciously wholesome, then that is hardly unusual. On television, especially in the manically nicey-nice world of daytime TV, Dana is at home.
"I have," she said, looking hurt, "been caricatured as a right-wing extremist in a country which claims to be liberal and tolerant." This hurt-but-still-reasonable approach set the tone. When Judy, countering Dana's strategy, lowered her voice, like a nice but responsible nurse, and suggested that Dana's views on, for instance, abortion, were not particularly tolerant, Dana was ready.
"I respect life at every stage," she said. "I respect life before birth and I believe in a tolerant society. . . no more should they laugh at me for being pro-life than they should demonise or hurt a woman who's had an abortion."
And that, it seemed, to borrow from New Labour's jargon, was Dana "on message". It is those who would snigger who are illiberal, narrow-minded, incapable of the inclusive view. As a message, it has its merits - a standard PR tactic to beam back on your enemies the very charge they are aiming at you.
Staying rigidly on message - which meant a number of repetitions of the phrase "respecting life at every stage", Dana managed to control this gig. After the third or fourth "respecting life at every stage", Richard twigged. "Would that be the ticket you're running on?" he asked.
Insisting that her ticket was "a ticket of hope and family values", Dana was not only on message, but on cruise control at this stage. Judy, still smarting from being out-niced by another daytime TV pro, tried a final gambit.
"It's extraordinary how you found your political voice," she said, the cheery smile masking, but not quite obliterating, a trace of sarcasm. She went on to remark how surprising (even though "of course" it ought not have been) the media have found Dana's "intelligence and gentle charm".
But Dana was too cool to be fazed by this sort of patronising and it wasn't until the X case was mentioned that she had even to think. Arguing that in cases of pregnancy after rape, only the rapist is guilty and therefore "a child shouldn't be killed". She made it clear that her opposition to abortion is total.
"Look," she said, finishing off, "I wanna share with you what has really touched my heart and brought me to where I am. . ."
With language like that, she could have been doing a gig on her own American show. Dana on daytime TV will do fine. Dana after dark may be another matter.
Eddie Holt is The Irish Times television critic.