One of the most controversial Ministers of the Government's five years in power has unquestionably been the former Minister for Health and the Current Minister for Children, Dr James Reilly.

Reilly was the face of the medical cards debacle in the early years of the coalition and was heavily criticised for budget and staffing cuts and the failure to introduce Universal Health Insurance.

Our reporter Richard Chambers joined the Minister on the campaign trail in his Dublin Fingal constituency.

What was the reception like on the doors? 

It was a good evening for the Minister. By his own admission, Malahide, which is the area his team canvassed last night, would be fertile ground for Fine Gael, not just for himself but for his running mate and fellow TD Alan Farrell.

I made the point that it wouldn’t be so easy in Swords, River Valley, Rush, or Balbriggan.

But it didn’t all go James Reilly’s way on the doors - and even in this affluent area with a lot of supporters, he was defending the Government’s record.

Fine Gael have been battling the spectre of Michael Lowry and the role he might play if he coalition needs his support to return to power. What does Reilly as the party's deputy leader make of the scenario? 

This is something Fine Gael will not want to hear but the issue has started to crop up on the doors.

The Taoiseach and Tánaiste’s spokespeople tried to defuse the situation by denying there were any plans to bring the Tipperary North Deputy into the fold if needs must.

With the election possibly being called as early as next Tuesday,this isn’t a good time for the coalition to be facing this.

And it’s safe to say it’s scaring local Fine Gael voters, even loyalists.

James Reilly himself has been the target for a lot of headlines, criticism and controversy over the past five years. Most recently, he came to the public's attention for his comments on the Eighth Amendment. What's his view on those remarks? 

Just before Christmas, a Sunday Independent article stated that Minister Reilly said the current situation was ‘patently wrong' and called for a Repeal.

This forced the Taoiseach’s hand making him declare there would be a free vote within the party raising the prospect of a Constitutional Convention or forum to discuss the issue and really restarting the conversation at a Government level about a Referendum on the matter.

This wasn’t something that Fine Gaelers wanted. It certainly damaged James Reilly’s standing within the circles of power. 

This comes of course after Reilly himself was moved out of the role he moved into politics to work on, the Minister of Health. The waves and embarrassment this created in the party can’t be overstated.

So you have to wonder, what is the status of his relationship with the Taoiseach at this point?

I read him some of the feedback we got from his colleagues on the Fine Gael benches when we conducted our survey on the matter last month. This was his response: 

Where does he stand on his own legacy?

This is the fascinating question about James Reilly. He got into national politics to serve as the Minister for Health so many people will point to his promises over matters like Roscommon Hospital. The 2009 statement “The day local services go - when there’s nothing to replace it - that’s the day I’ll walk away, I’ll retire” is one that’s proved people have a long memory about promises.

He may be the Minister for Children and he’ll point to things like plain packaging on tobacco and the upcoming paid paternity leave and second pre-school year as success but it’s health that will be the matter that comes up on the doors for him and will define him.

One woman was quite upset and telling a story of her own experience at Beaumont Hospital she said that more money needs to be invested to fix the trolley crisis. 

He made the point a couple of times that he didn’t have a lot of money to play around with, noting he didn’t have the same funding at the bottom of the crisis that Leo Varadkar has now. He says he doesn’t feel envious of the perception that Leo gets an easier ride from the media.

I asked what his views are on the scrutiny of his time as Minister and if, as Michael McNamara put it yesterday, the Government and himself failed in health.