No one to shout when it was all over

ONLY the gentle rustle of ballot papers disturbed the silence at the Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre in north county Dublin yesterday morning.

As the bail referendum count progressed, there were no tally-men, politicians or tense supporters, just a few reporters and the man on the door. He talked of excitement past.

The cliff-hanger they had there during the last general election count. How Fianna Fail's G.V. Wright and the Green Party's Trevor Sargeant battled it out, rightdown to the last few votes for the final seat. Ah yes, those were the days.

There was little drama yesterday as the overall count moved towards its inevitable conclusion - an overwhelming majority supporting the amendment by three to one, after a dismal turnout of just 29.2 per cent.

The only hint of excitement was a sign on some emergency exits which told us the doors were alarmed. A couple of Fine Gael tallymen came, saw and were conquered by the conclusiveness of it all. And the chairwoman of Fingal County Council, Ms Anne Devitt, dropped by.

"A 70/30 Yes vote," they concluded, after a scan of the scene, "with about a 33 per cent poll." The estimate was very close, too, as it turned out.

The Dublin North Labour TD, Mr Sean Walsh, arrived. He greeted everyone, which didn't take long, talked to the staff, established that it was nearly all over bar the shouting. Only there was no one to shout.

At about 12.50 pm. the returning officer, Mr Sean Carey, approached the three reporters. He was glad there was someone to announce the result to, he said. "A 77.17 per cent Yes vote and a 32. 16 per cent poll."

Time to say goodbye to the man on the door.