SEAN Sherwin rallied his troops. "There'll be no arguments and no fisticuffs," he told the team of vote scrutineers. "We're here to defend PD votes, and with a small `a' we're attacking the votes of the other candidate."
The presence of Fianna Fail's national organiser and chief number cruncher at the Dublin South East recheck was more than a sign of the party's special relationship with the PDs.
With the balance of power still poised, the reversal of Michael McDowell's election defeat may be the only thing which can prevent she extension of the DART to South Kerry. However unlikely it might be (McDowell's election, that is), all the stops were being bulled out.
General Sherwin explained some of the things his scrutineers should be looking for - for example a ballot paper with writing on it. "That is a spoilt vote," he explained, adding: "If it's one of ours you may keep silent."
His address was the highlight of a day which, as a spectacle, had none of the excitement involved in watching paint dry. Still, even this kind of thing has its aficionados. The RDS was not exactly over crowded yesterday, but you couldn't have swung a large cat in the hall without hitting a barrister.
Some of them at least had the excuse that they'd been invited. When the returning officer called a conference in the middle of the afternoon, legal suits from all parties stood around his table for more than an hour, looking like a convention of pathologists studying a particularly interesting corpse.
Few of those who were not lawyers had much idea what was going on. Fianna Fail's Eoin Ryan - one of three candidates deemed elected before the dispute arose - emerged from one of the round table conferences to declare that "you'd have to be Einstein" to follow it.
Michael McDowell was conspicuous by his absence throughout the day. John Gormley was there, however, looking utterly serene for a man who was skating on the thin ice of a 27 vote majority. "They're just going through the motions," he said, at one point. "They've counted the votes inside out and outside in and there is no discrepancy."
A bigger cause of concern, he suggested, were the catering arrangements in the RDS. Three days of doughnuts and muffins have taken their toll on the Greens delicate constitutions; last night they had designer sandwiches ordered in from a vegetarian restaurant.
One of those who did not have to endure the long dull day was a man who was removed from the hall earlier in the afternoon. He had taken up a position on the rail normally occupied by the party scrutineers, and was taking notes. But when neither party claimed him, he was shown the door by a Garda. He must have been a lawyer.
. The situation in Dublin South East was still unresolved late last night. Rechecking will resume today with examination of the votes of Mr Ruairi Quinn, Mr McDowell and Mr Gormley.
Mr Gormley has accused the PDs of being "lapdogs" for Fianna Fail and claimed the recount was a stalling tactic to help Mr Bertie Ahern's negotiation strategy.
