THE decision to hold the general election count for the Cork South West constituency in Mallow was described as ‘ridiculous’ by Independent Cllr Finbarr Harrington at the recent meeting of Council’s West Cork Municipal District.
BY DAVID FORSYTHE
Councillors who attended the count were unanimous in their verdict that the decision to hold the West Cork count in Mallow was a failure. Beara-based Harrington said that it took him three hours to get to the count centre from his home.
He said: ’The count is the first taste of politics for many young people in West Cork and they are being denied that by taking the count away from Clonakilty.
‘It’s also a big financial loss to the town. The lack of West Cork people there meant the atmosphere was dead, too. The bottom line is it’s just too far away, the distance is ridiculous,’ he added.
Cllr Deirdre Kelly (FF) said that the fact that the counts for Cork South West and Cork North West carried on into the early hours of the morning was practically an admission that it was too far from West Cork for people to travel.
She said: ‘They decided to keep going and finish the counts rather than get us to come back again the next day, but East Cork was suspended until the next day.’
Danny Collins said that facilities were also lacking.
‘They had portaloos outside and we were expected to go out in the dark and use them. It was dangerous and they had the toilets inside the building closed off.’
Social Democrats’ Cllr Isobel Towse told the meeting that a plug socket her colleagues were using exploded.
Meeting chairperson Patrick Gerard Murphy (FF) said councillors should collate the issues and write to the county sheriff to make the case for returning future counts to West Cork. He said: ‘At the end of the day, we are the elected representatives and we should be consulted.’
