THE early omens weren't particularly encouraging. "I couldn't give a sh**e about politics, " was the response from one woman approached and asked if she'd like to meet Frank McNamara, the new PD candidate for Dublin South-Central.

If he had been in politics any longer than the four days that had passed since he joined the junior coalition party, McNamara would probably have steered a very wide berth.

Instead, he stood patiently in the wet, cold evening for the next 10 minutes, listening sympathetically to the woman's genuinely distressing story.

By the end of the conversation, the woman was wishing him well. It's unlikely she will be marking the box beside McNamara's name on the ballot paper next month and perhaps as election day comes closer, McNamara will have to become more hardheaded about concentrating on those likely to vote for him, but it was hard not to be impressed by his genuine concern.

It hasn't been an easy first few days in political life for the musician, composer, producer and conductor, best known as the former musical director of the Late Late Show. He himself described his hour-long interrogation on Monday's Liveline as a "baptism of fire", while last Thursday was definitely a night for tinkling the ivories in front of a roaring log fire rather than standing outside Superquinn on Sundrive Road in Kimmage. There have also been widespread predictions that his battle for a seat, in a constituency that could never be described as PD heartland, was already a lost cause.

But if McNamara was phased by the reaction to his entry into politics, the horrible weather, or people who "couldn't give a sh**e about politics", he certainly wasn't showing it. His enthusiasm, chirpiness and general good mood was unquenchable. And if recognition is, as the cliche goes, half the battle in politics, well then he might just end up surprising a few people. Certainly, if he got a vote for every time he heard the sentence "I remember you from the Late, Late", McNamara would top the poll come election time.

It's 1999 since he last appeared regularly on the Late Late, but 20 years spent on our television screen engaging in light-hearted banter with Uncle Gaybo is clearly an asset for a fledgling politician. Shopper after shopper stopped to say that they remembered him. "You haven't really changed.

Only the hair is different. It's great to see you coming in like this. You definitely haven't changed, " one woman said.

"How are Theresa and the twins?

Where is Theresa now?" asked another woman, referring to Frank's wife . . . the former RTE-celebrity-turnedbarrister Theresa Lowe . . . and two of their four children.

Marie Fitzgerald from Crumlin made a point of telling the Sunday Tribune that "it's great to see somebody new coming in . . . a new face and new ideas".

There was also widespread sympathy for him over the Liveline grilling.

"I felt bad about the flack you got, " said one passer-by. Another told McNamara that he had been "very concise and clear" on the programme.

Any complaints were polite and limited to local issues. One commuter told McNamara that the timing on the lights at Sundrive Road was causing chaos in the morning, particularly for those coming from the direction of the KCR. Welcome to national politics, Frank . . . Irish style. The bus service was also "extremely bad", he was told.

Another woman complained that the playground beside her house had been "like a bombsite" for the past 14 years and that the local council had not done anything about it. McNamara's response was certainly original: "Why don't we do it ourselves?" he asked the woman. Her number was taken with a promise to follow up this idea the following day.

Chatting later, McNamara says this is a philosophy he wants to bring to political life.

"I'm not interested in the kind of politics that involves talking. I'm interested in doing things."

He stresses he has no interest in getting involved in political battles with opponents. "People hate listening to politicians bickering. People are sick of it. Well, I know I am. Just go and do it, " he says.

The fast-tracking of his Dail candidacy has prompted some criticism on the public airwaves and even raised eyebrows in the party he joined only last Monday.

But McNamara, who is open about being a political novice, says his reasons for going into politics are simple.

"I'm concerned about people. I want to help people. I've had a good career and I'd like to give something back, " he says, before adding with disarming candour: "And I was asked."

He joined the PDs because it's a small party and he admires a lot of the people in it, not least Mary Harney for whom he has had a high regard since her time in Fianna Fail.

McNamara was himself once a Soldier of Destiny during his days at secondary school and at Trinity College, before becoming disillusioned with the politics of debate rather than action.

And when asked if he thinks he can win a seat in the constituency, he confidently replies: "That's the plan. . .I'm going to give it my best shot."