Election Day

Never has an election been more anticipated that the current one here in Ireland, and thanks be to Jaysus the run-up to it wasn't any longer than it has been.

I swear the election posters here in Dundalk were multiplying over night. There's a roundabout near us that, four weeks ago had just four or five posters attached to the iron railings that protect pedestrians from the traffic.

Going through it today, I counted (periphally, of course, I was driving) about twenty. I have to laugh at Fine Gael's 'Five Point Plan - go to wubblywubblywubbly to read all about it'. As if!

Last week, I was up in Donegal for the weekend, a trip which necessitated travelling through Norn Iron twice - it was nice not to be visually assailed by election images for the time it took to go through the north. A visual break, I guess.

Anyhoo, at this stage of the day the deed is done. I have exercised my right to vote, placing preferences all the way down from 1 -16 (I'm old-fashioned and feel the need to vote from last to first - just to make sure I express myself most emphatically!). I feel sorry for anyone in a constituency that has more candidates than that - I hear one of Galway's constituencies has 35 candidates!

One thing for sure: the intricacies of the Proportional Representation Single Transferable Vote make the day after, Saturday, the most interesting day, when we see what it is the Irish people may have actually said. I'll be tuning in around lunchtime, when hopefully all the ballot boxes will have been opened.