Limerick Leader staff share some of their experiences from inside the count centre

THEY say you meet your neighbours when you go to vote but you meet people you haven’t seen in five years at election counts.

Hospital man and Fine Gael supporter Michael English, aged 85, told Leader reporter Donal O’Regan: “I sold your mother two cars. She crashed one of them at the bridge in Bruree. She was a wonderful lady, God be good to her.”

Mr English has his own political pedigree as, 50 years ago on Saturday, he was elected a Fine Gael councillor. A few years previously he actually received more votes at a co-option meeting than a certain Michael Noonan, who didn’t go on to have a bad career in politics.

Another person Mr O’Regan hadn’t seen in five years was Pat Reidy, also a Fine Gael supporter. It was like back to the future as Mr Reidy was sitting on a table on floor three of Limerick Racecourse - the exact same spot he was in five years ago. History does have a habit of repeating itself.

Every candidate speaks to the media after they are elected but Tommy O’Sullivan did it from Spain! The Kilfinane man had to miss his election due to a family wedding that was booked months ago.

After being at the count centre all day on Saturday he flew to Spain at 3am on Sunday morning.

He told the Limerick Leader on Sunday evening from Spain after he was elected on the 10th count in the Cappamore-Kilmallock Municipal District that he was “wrecked”.

“I haven’t got a wink of sleep. It's not sinking in at all yet. I was on the phone all day getting updates and we watched the match over here - I feel like I played the match,” laughed Cllr O’Sullivan. He was in a battle with Kilmallock’s Mike Donegan but took the final seat.

Cllr O’Sullivan’s name was called out to warm applause despite not being there. Although he said it felt like he was there because “I have a half Kilfinane out here!” Viva España!

Meanwhile, the owner of a car parked right outside the count centre in Limerick Racecourse was taking no chances as they were requesting the divine intervention of not one, but two saints, with pictures of Padre Pio and St Anthony dangling from the rear view mirror.

The latter is the patron saint of lost things so perhaps they were hoping some lost votes for their candidate were found!

Former councillor Noel Gleeson, Cappamore, recalled when he lost an election by three votes and he knows exactly where those votes went! It was due to a woman crashing on the way to vote with family members and she missed the then 9pm deadline.

Sign says by Frances Fitzpatrick

THERE were plenty of wild and wonderful scenes at the count but one of my favourite sights from the weekend was the shows of support from the candidates' family and friends.

Following the confirmation of the full council, as I walked around the empty count centre I came across posters, badges and signs that had been left behind after the comings and goings.

One that brought home how important these elections are to those involved was a homemade sign for Pat O'Neill, who failed to be elected to Limerick City North.

Adorned with stickers and glitter, you could see the love that went into such a simple piece of artwork that showed the pride that families feel when their loved one runs for local office.

READ MORE: IN PICTURES: Celebrations following historic election of John Moran as Mayor of Limerick

Wine and chaos by Sandra Quinn

WITH the counting for all of Limerick city and county spread out across various floors of Limerick Racecourse in Patrickswell, there was a phenomenal step count for the members of the media in particular, who were checking in with progress on the ground floor for the city and then skipping (or as the days wore on, tiredly trudging) up the multiple flights of stairs to the second floor for the county updates.

For the first two days of the count over the weekend, coffee cups were strewn about on various tables and surfaces, children were running around excitedly fuelled by sweets and treats to buy their silence as the parents watched the tallies.

As the count wore on into the wee hours,only the journalists and stalwarts remained.
There was a locked wine fridge up on the county floor - maybe it was just as well, as tensions frayed and candidates eagerly awaited what, for some, were agonisingly long waits.

In Adare-Rathkeale, the wait for Cllr Bridie Collins was particularly tormenting, as she was just two votes off getting in, in the count before she secured her seat.

Scrambling for seats and then for sockets to plug in devices, the Limerick Leader team were on the ground, keeping readers and followers online up to date with every election, elimination and all of the quirky fun in between.

The who’s who by Abigail Hayden

IF YOU’RE a fan of people-watching, the Limerick Racecourse was the place to be this week! From councillors to consuls, the crowd was full of familiar faces over the course of the last few days.

Of course, with the historic Limerick win in the Munster finals, there were plenty of jerseys to be seen on the count floors.

A highlight for me was capturing newly-elected Cllr Conor Sheehan donning a Limerick bucket hat while the Limerick team scored a point on the screen above his head!

As captivating as it was to play spot-the-politician throughout the weekend, however, I have to admit: the best sight I saw, without a doubt, was the pizza delivered to us each night!

Where's my soother? by Jerome O'Connell

At 1.15am on Monday morning my shoe hit off a lonely soother on the floor just inside the double doors at Limerick Racecourse. We all needed a bit of comforting at that stage in the race - some more than others!