By Kate Manning
People running all over the place, phones hopping and results coming in every minute. That was KCLR96fm, the local radio station for Carlow and Kilkenny on Saturday. It was election count day and the station newsroom was certainly alive.
The early morning was relatively peaceful. News clips to portray the anticipation among the candidates had to be gotten. European and local election hopeful, Kathleen Funchion spoke of her “nervousness about the day ahead”. Green TD Mary White told of the busy day facing everyone and hoped it would end up favouring her party. The stations Journalists were called to get feedback on the atmosphere that was beginning to build at the count-centres.
With so much newsworthy material coming from the count centres, it was difficult to find and develop the “In other news” stories. Having to condense the election feedback proved a challenge and most bulletins became extended. A fatal stabbing in Carlow had to be followed up on and it was tricky to manage that with the elections.
With so much newsworthy material coming from the count centres, it was difficult to find and develop the “In other news” stories. Having to condense the election feedback proved a challenge and most bulletins became extended. A fatal stabbing in Carlow had to be followed up on and it was tricky to manage that with the elections.
Election results were arriving by the minute and the news stories kept evolving. A bulletin could be broadcast and by the time it was finished another candidate could have been elected. Local listeners began calling the newsroom looking for tit-bits of results that they had missed.
By 11.30 am, word had reached the station that the tallies showed that Mairead McGuinness looked on course to reclaim her seat in the European Parliament. Surprisingly, Nessa Childers also looked to have polled well and was ahead of Fianna Fáil’s sitting MEP Liam Aylward. Predictions emerged which indicated that John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael) would battle with Aylward over the third seat. Nothing was certain at this time and a lot could change.
By 11.30 am, word had reached the station that the tallies showed that Mairead McGuinness looked on course to reclaim her seat in the European Parliament. Surprisingly, Nessa Childers also looked to have polled well and was ahead of Fianna Fáil’s sitting MEP Liam Aylward. Predictions emerged which indicated that John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael) would battle with Aylward over the third seat. Nothing was certain at this time and a lot could change.
The day pretty much flew. The buzz of what was going on around the local area and the country never eased. Looking back the unpredictability and the fast pace was definitely worth doing again. I would recommend for anyone to get involved in elections. I followed it and was involved in it from start to finish and there was nothing about it that I didn’t like. Even to just get involved on election count day and witness the results being read out with the candidates either celebrating or commiserating with each other is a great experience. While I chose to get involved on the media side of things, there are other ways to get involved. You could join in the campaign trail of a candidate you’ve taken a shine to. Or put yourself forward to run in the elections. It’s achievable. Either way, to get a feel for the diverse personalities that represent our country at European level and our home towns at local level is important and can be quite entertaining.
With the second Lisbon Treaty referendum fast approaching, not to mention the constant threat of a general election potentially becoming a reality, Irish politics will be fast-paced and exciting for the indefinite future.
Bring it on I say!
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