Mood relaxed at Dublin count as Mitchell eyes victory

While the electorate turned out in force to make their presence felt at the polls on Friday, the same impetus was lacking at today’s count in Dublin.

Staff at the RDS relaxed as returning officer John Fitzpatrick optimistically forecast a 9pm showdown to declare the city’s four MEPs.

With proceedings off to a slow start, workers at the count centre took time to bask in the heat and ponder how to spend their not-so-hard-earned cash.

Summer holidays, visa bills, and college fees topped the poll by a margin not even Fine Gael’s Gay Mitchell could hope for.

As the number crunching began at around midday, Mr Mitchell looked well on course for success.

With a beaming grin, the Fine Gael European candidate predicted victory and also a celebration to remember at party headquarters.

“There will be a barbecue this evening, at Fine Gael HQ, but I won’t imbibe until just after the count has been declared at 9pm. One has to keep one’s faculties about.”

Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness didn’t have the same worries but dismissed rumours of a celebration. He says he’s not a party man.

But the Sinn Féin election machine was as well oiled as ever with workers and supporters arriving in their droves.

Buoyed by the success of yesterday’s local election result in the capital, confidence was high with claims of a European seat for Mary Lou McDonald coming from all corners.

Mr McGuinness put that down to hard work and an all-Ireland approach to the election.

He added that while he had planned to be in Dublin all day, if European hopeful Pearse Doherty kept going the way he was at the count in the north west, a trip to Donegal may be in order.

The real pressure however at the count centre was on the tally men and women scurrying from zone to zone. The game of the day was oneupmanship. Labour workers fought tooth and nail with all the parties and even amongst themselves to prove Prionsias De Rossa was set for a seat, while the other half of the red brigade claimed Ivana Bacik was right in the race.

The Green Party, meanwhile, made little inroads with the media, but in their view, "slow and steady wins the race".

As beads of sweat appeared on a tally man’s forehead, counting clerks passed around the cold drinks and debated the finer points of voting habits.

“One eejit filled it in in Roman numerals, and then another wrote ‘spoilt vote’ on the paper, I think these people need lessons in how to vote,” one clerk declared. The returning officers’ optimism was also up for debate, but for much of the counting staff and election workers there was a welcome boost.

Finding the ever-elusive Dublin City Lord Mayor, Royston Brady, proved as much of a problem at the sprawling RDS centre as it has throughout the election campaign.

Even Mr Fitzpatrick, returning officer, was forced to make a loudspeaker announcement calling for the Scarlet Pimpernel of Irish politics to attend a meeting.