Nothing left to chance as registrar gets ready for big day

Padraig Burke knows the buck stops with him, but is confident the preparations he and his team have done will deliver a stress-free day, writes John O’Mahony

PADRAIG Burke knows exactly what Benjamin Franklin meant when suggesting that failing to prepare was akin to preparing to fail and the Kerry county registrar has left nothing to chance in the lead-up to the fiscal treaty referendum.

Charged with overseeing even the most minute detail in two sprawling constituencies, he sat in his Tralee office late yesterday crossing T’s and dotting I’s on an extensive checklist to ensure everything was in place for two daunting days and nights ahead.

Casting a final eye over the detailed management strategy he and his staff have devised, he double checks to ensure there will be 290 polling booth presiding officers, the same number of poll clerks, a team of 20 roving supervisors and inspectors, 96 staff to count and check the votes, and security personnel to man the polling stations and two count centres in Killarney and Tralee.

That’s only the start of it.

Adequate training had to be provided to all staff, suitable polling stations had to be sorted, instructions on the requirement for disability-friendly access had to dispatched, and 1,000 or so postal votes have been administered.

Dusty steel polling boxes have been retrieved from storage, several new information signs to be erected at polling areas are awaiting proofing at the printers, and then there are the basic housekeeping duties such as arranging catering for staff and a sufficient supply of pens and pencils to enable the public to cast their preferences.

With a combined electorate of just over 120,000 voters between the Kerry South and Kerry North-West Limerick constituencies, he realises he will be in the spotlight for the next 48 hours. If a minor or major administrative disaster on polling day or during the vote counting process happens, ultimately the buck stops with him.

“The returning officer for every constituency stands on his own two feet with no indemnities, automatic or otherwise, in the event of anything going wrong. The buck stops with us,” said Mr Burke, who has enlisted the support of experienced local authority official Philip O’Sullivan to take charge of the Tralee count while he himself will be based in Killarney.

But despite the massive challenge in store, Mr Burke, a native of the parish of Milltown and now living in Fossa, Killarney, leans back in his seat and chuckles at the suggestion that there may be a restless night in store before the referendum is consigned to yesterday’s news.

“The pressure is on but there will be no sleep lost, absolutely not. I like to think I cope very well in stressful situations and I take it in my stride,” said the affable Kerryman, who was appointed county registrar in 2006 after 22 years as principal in his own busy legal practice in Killarney.

Despite the volume of work it entails, organising and supervising the referendum in two constituencies still forms a very minute part of Mr Burke’s multi-faceted job description. When he arrives at his desk at the impressive new Centre Point building in Tralee each morning, he is tasked with micro-managing preparations for circuit court matters, family law hearings, sheriff’s office functions, probate issues and the many other responsibilities that arrive on the county registrar’s in-tray.

And all of this has to be achieved with significantly diminished resources, human and otherwise, which he attributes to “the first clawback of the Celtic tiger”.

Despite the everyday strain of staffing issues, for the next 48 hours, Mr Burke will devote his entire energy to the referendum and he has stressed the importance of teamwork and preparation as the key to a successful formula that has already seen him breeze through general, local, European, and presidential elections as well as various referenda.

“To run anything properly you have to have experienced people who know what they are doing and I certainly have that.

“In this referendum I will rely on key people who know the score, know the system, the people they are dealing with, the geography and the locations.”

Mr Burke, a passionate Kerry GAA supporter, likes to approach any major project as if he was preparing for a crunch game in front of a packed stadium.

“The first thing to do is to pick your team and ensure they are well trained. It’s like a championship encounter and you’ve got to give it your all for the time you are on the field. You are only as good as your last game,” he said.

This morning Mr Burke will stand in front of the shaving mirror well before 6am before setting off to ensure that all the polling booths are up and running. It will be well after 2am before he returns home to his wife Marina, who is a primary school teacher, and their four children.

A dawn start beckons again tomorrow to allow him to be in situ in Killarney before the boxes are opened to ensure papers are sorted and checked, strict procedures are adhered to and staff are looked after before the final result is faxed to the referendum count headquarters in Dublin, probably by mid afternoon.

Only then will the immaculately groomed Padraig Burke loosen his tie, return his pen to his breast pocket, and decide what club game he might attend or what championship encounter to tune into on another busy GAA weekend.

At least that’s the plan. And not even the threat of a full or partial recount could deprive an in-control and unflappable county registrar of a decent night’s sleep.