Election counts a boost for Castlebar

Castlebar receives welcome boost with by hosting European count


Michael Commins

CASTLEBAR will be the hub for much of the political focus over the weekend. The Royal Theatre in Castlebar will host the counts for both the four Mayo Municipal areas as well as the huge count for the Midlands North West Constituency.
Castlebar native Fintan Murphy was appointed as returning officer for the vast European constituency which takes in 15 counties. The count is held in the home area of the returning officer so Castlebar has emerged as the real winner on this occasion, with large amounts of people expected to stay in the town’s hotels on Sunday night after an anticipated marathon European election count.
The counting of votes cast in Midlands-North West, expected to be in the region of one million, will commence at 9am on Sunday morning. Supporters of the various candidates are expected to flock to Castlebar on Saturday and Sunday, giving the town a much needed economic boost.
There will be intense interest in the opening of the ballot boxes on Saturday morning which will see the separation of the Council and European ballot papers. The tallying of the papers is one of the great traditions of Irish election days. The “wars” have all been fought at that stage and all sides pull together in a remarkable show of honesty and decency while assisting each other in cross-checking the tallies.
As always, there will be surprises and shocks in all the electoral regions …and in the European constituency of Midlands-North West.
One thing is for certain, Castlebar and Mayo will be very much in the national headlines all over coming weekend.