‘Developed economy is not a priority for many’

Making it back to Cork to vote was insanity. Me and my mum left Dublin at about half four, and crawled back over almost six hours.

However the difficulty of that journey was nothing compared to trying to keep up with the counts. There is a constant influx of information available.

As soon as I start processing the consequences and implications of the gain or loss of a seat, the results of another count are going up. I can hardly keep up with how I feel about each successive loss or victory.

I’m happy Lucinda Creighton lost her seat. Even though she stated, before the deciding count, that a failure on her part to score a seat would not signal the death of Renua, a demonstration of voter disapproval was certainly evident in the lack of numbers she received.

Both Catherine Martin and Eamon Ryan won seats, which I am also glad of. Hopefully they will present a significant united front for environmental issues in whatever sort of kaleidoscope government we wash up with.

I’m sitting in front of the fire, watching RTÉ’s coverage of the Cork South Central (my constituency) count, and honestly, I’m so saturated with political information all I can do is laugh at how short Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire is in comparison to Simon Coveney.

Of course, I’m upset Lorna Bogue or Jim O’Connell didn’t win a seat here, as they were my first and second preferences respectively.

Taking a step back, and looking at the national results from the general election, I find it hard to predict the form which our next government will take. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of support given to Independents and smaller parties.

There will certainly be a diverse “rainbow government” (a term which I have heard bandied about) established, if we don’t end up holding a re-election. I don’t truly think that that could be an eventuality, but I have heard that candidates are not throwing out their posters just yet.

Some part of me doubted that anyone could challenge the apparent strength of the older more established bodies, and to put it simply, I’m feeling elated to have those doubts put to rest. The support of smaller left-wing parties and independents would imply to me that a developed economy is not the priority for many citizens, but rather other societal issues.

Again, I find this hugely encouraging. If a financial recovery was all voters demanded (as opposed to health care, housing, and education, and many others) would we not have seen more support for Fine Gael?

But what about Fine Gael? What about Fianna Fáil? Fianna Fáil have run an election campaign largely based on a platform of highlighting the failings of Fine Gael and Labour’s management and policies. And Fine Gael have trumpeted their feat of patching up the ruins Fianna Fáil left the country in.

Will they form a “grand coalition”, as it’s been called, to stay in government? I would bet a hell of a lot on it. Apologies (mum) for lapsing back into the gross cynicism from which I partially recovered on Friday, but of course they will. How could they not? They are so close to the power they have campaigning for.

I can’t see any TD from Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil risking losing those prospects on the basis of adhering to their previous adamant professions of opposition to each other. Whichever coalitions or allied forces do form, I am sure we will need to watch closely.