Drenched by driving rain and easterly gales, early-morning visitors to the Nice Treaty referendum count centre in Galway West were greeted by a startling scene.
There were at least 20, perhaps 30, bodies outstretched on the floor just inside the door of Leisureland. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was being given. One of the few men standing in the building seemed to be the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr Ó Cuiv.
Could No campaign workers be taking the referendum results this badly? The returning officer, Mr Sean Ó Dómhnaill, hadn't even started sorting votes yet. In fact, there was no real cause for alarm: these were just willing participants in Sunday life-saving sessions, run by local clubs.
And as the morning wore on, it certainly seemed as if most of the action was in the swimming pool. Over in the draughty hall, it was evident that support for the Nice Treaty had very definitely been resuscitated. An early tally result caused some shock waves when a figure of 78 per cent in favour was mentioned. This was subsequently revised to 60-40, with the caution that only one-third of boxes had been tallied.
Among those was Spiddal, which voted against the treaty by two votes. Also Salerno, out in Connemara, called it "nil". The middle-class village of Barna seemed to have rejected the referendum, but Mr Ó Cuiv discounted this on the basis that most of the middle-class areas in the city were strongly Yes.
Solicitor Daniel Callanan, who ran for Sinn Féin in Galway West in the last election, concurred with this analysis. Taylor's Hill was "three-to-one", he noted, while there was definitely a higher No vote in working-class areas of the city. He was surprised at the 60 per cent vote in favour, having estimated that it would be in the order of 55-45.
The pro-treaty campaigners had focused on several issues and played them "very effectively", Mr Callanan said. The right-wing affiliations of Mr Justin Barrett of the No to Nice Campaign had done "significant damage" to other groups opposing the treaty, in his view.
"At the same time, a 40 per cent vote against is very significant when neither the Greens nor Sinn Féin have any representation on Galway City Council," he added.
At about 1.30 p.m., when the hardy few were expecting a long afternoon, the returning officer took everyone by surprise.
Far from keeping the country waiting, Galway West was going to be in there with the rest. Minister Ó Cuiv appeared to be the lone TD present when Mr Ó Dómhnaill read out the results: 21,649 votes in favour and 14,146 votes against. There were hardly enough voices in the hall for a decent cheer.
Turnout was a mere 29 per cent when Galway West voted against the treaty last time around. This time, the showing was 44 per cent, and the Minister was very pleased.
Perhaps last week's criticism by Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Frank Fahey, of those lazy "pillars of society" who hadn't exercised their franchise in Galway West last year had the desired effect after all.
