EARLY VOTING:WHEN AUSTIN Burns pulled up on his Yamaha Grizzly 350 quad bike in a cloud of dust there were no other voters to have a chat with at the polling station on Clare Island.
It was just before 1pm on one of the more remote quarters of the five-seater Mayo constituency. At that stage the turnout was just 15 per cent.
Clare, with an electorate of 115, was the largest of three Mayo offshore islands with a total electorate of 194 exercising the franchise yesterday – along with some 760 voters on five islands off Donegal.
Strong southwesterly winds were whipping up a three-metre swell when ballot box number 504 was loaded on the ferry at Roonagh quay outside Louisburgh for the 3km sea crossing at 8.30am.
Accompanying the black box were presiding officer Fintan T Murphy and Garda Kevin O’Connor, a Kerryman based in Louisburgh. There to greet them at the island quay was polling clerk Padraic O’Malley. The 20 pupils in St Patrick’s National School had been given the day off.
“The weather’s bad, which is not helping turnout, but I think people don’t feel very enthusiastic about voting this time at all,” Clare island resident Anne Moran said.
“You’d wonder does your vote matter when we are in such a state, and it will be years before we are back on track.”
The island’s public health nurse, Margaret O’Grady, also wondered if the effort would make any difference. “Five-point plans aren’t going to make an impact on what is facing us,” Ms O’Grady said. “I think right up to the last minute people aren’t sure who to vote for, if at all, and yet you’d feel bad if you didn’t avail of a democratic right which was so hard won.”
Clare Island’s turnout has tended to be higher than the mainland, with about 70 per cent during the European and local elections in 2009, according to Fintan T Murphy. Most of the islands still feel they should be voting with the rest of the State – as is the case with the Cork islands – according to Mr O’Malley, who is also chairman of the Irish Island Federation, Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann.
Turnout was almost 76 per cent when polling closed on Clare Island last night and the ballot box returned to the mainland.
Difficult weather yesterday proved particularly challenging for presiding officer Michael Leneghan on nearby Inishbiggle.
Offshore voting continues today on the three Aran islands and Inishbofin in the Galway West constituency. Some 466 voters on seven islands in Cork South West vote tomorrow. The total island electorate is 2,575.