As part of Newstalk's Election Coverage,  Seán Moncrieff has been testing some of the candidates in a series of quick-fire questions that they will likely not be asked anywhere else. On today's show it was the turn of Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton, the Labour TD candidate in the Dublin West constituency.

Here are some of the things we learned about the Tánaiste from the quick-fire interview:

If you had an ejector-seat button, which politician would you eject from the Dáil? "It wouldn't be Mary-Lou! It could be another slightly small guy, I won't even mention his name. I have to think about this..."

When was the last time you got drunk? "Nowadays I just sip wine, Prosecco particularly. Maybe two or two and a half glasses, and that's it."

Are you superstitious Tánaiste? "Reasonably so. I don't like anybody making negative comments about anybody else & not just politically - I think it can bring bad luck. I don't like breaking mirrors and I don't like going near canoes anymore!"

Which world politicians have had trouble pronouncing Tánaiste "Lots of them can't - perhaps most recently the chair of the Party of European Socialists. Also the French Prime Minister Monsieur Valls - I can say his!"

Will you ever be Taoiseach? "I would hope so, and I'm saying to all voters out there - this is a very personal chance in next 3 weeks to make sure the Labour party has a strong presence in the next government."

Any posters on your wall as a teenager? "I generally had pictures, particularly of moody people like Leonard Cohen in a basement somewhere, and I also loved Bob Dylan."

How much money raised for your campaign? "I haven't actually fundraised - what I do is I make a large contribution to my own campaign. By the end of the election I anticipate I'll have got some donations from family and friends. I'm not a great fundraiser, I tend to fund my own campaigns as a lot of people in the Labour Party do. It'll certainly cost at least €10,000 and I've already paid for the Labour Party's core package of posters and so on, and that's about €5-6,000."

Sexism in the Dáil. Discuss. "Look, it's a bit of a boys' club, and boys will be boys. At times there are people, certainly in the early days people would sometimes go 'What is she talking about?' Maybe they still do!"

Have you ever broken the law in any way? "Yes, I got a few speeding tickets and I have to confess to being clamped a couple of times."

Joan Burton in Newstalk's studio with Sean Moncrieff | Image via @SeanDefoe on Twitter

To listen back to the full interview with Joan Burton, you can find the podcast at the link below: