On the canvass, Fianna Fáil can be an awesome sight, but under it, the party is even more impressive. Proof will be provided yet again when the Galway races get under way this evening. Frank McNally and Lorna Siggins report
Occupying the area of about 20 two-bedroomed apartments, the Fianna Fáil tent is one of the most impressive structures at Ballybrit racecourse.
It accounts for 30 per cent of the total marquee village, an urban sprawl on the fringe of the east Galway venue. However, as the many builders who visit the tent this week will know, the structure - being temporary - does not require full planning permission.
Even so, it is expected to house some impressive fund-raising activity during the week, presided over as usual by a sizeable section of the Cabinet.
Conditions for the start of the Galway races are expected to be somewhere between good to yielding and yielding to soft: a bit like the progress of the economy under the current Government.
But despite this and a poor recent run of form, Fianna Fáil will be hoping to replicate its incredible run of success at Galway, where the party's catering operation has raised millions of euro over the years.
Indeed, barring a fall (of the tent), few punters would back against the prospect of the party running off with the top prize at the festival yet again.
The other big winners at Galway are expected to be trainer and course specialist Dermot Weld, the local economy and the bookmakers.
With some 180,000 expected to attend, the festival is worth an estimated €58 million to Galway city and county.
About €11 million of this is spent inside the racecourse, although this figure includes only a portion of the €20 million expected to be wagered during the week.
Another €27 million goes to hotels, restaurants and pubs in the festival's catchment area, which extends more than 20 miles beyond Galway city.
Beneficiaries of the seven-day splurge range from helicopter companies to escort services. Fourteen different helicopter firms are registered to provide transport to and from the racecourse, with some 50 aircraft serving as flying taxis during the week.
Among the world's oldest professions, however, the biggest winners are expected to be the turf accountants.
With large fields and thousands of naive punters, the Galway races are traditionally a bookies' benefit. They get under way with this evening's 5 p.m. race, runners for which include a horse that could have been christened by the bookies: Bringontheclowns.