During the counting of the Mayo local elections at TF Royal Hotel and Theatre, there was an unexpected intruder. A mouse had purportedly found its way into a ballot box on the previous Friday evening, leading to a warning from John Condron, the returning officer for Mayo county, to the counting staff early on the following Saturday. Despite the ongoing counting process, the mouse’s whereabouts remained a mystery by Sunday evening.
Finding unusual items in ballot boxes is not unheard of during election time. From miraculous medals to rodents, these odd discoveries have become an election staple. Yet, in Salthill on Saturday, the recovery efforts were a bit different. Here, votes weren’t the only things found inside a ballot box from the Gort-Kinvara LEA. A diamond reportedly fallen off a voter’s ring while voting was yet to be retrieved.
In the 2019 local elections, candidate Patrick Feeney attained a dubious distinction when he received just one vote for the Galway City Council. Unfazed by this, Feeney again contested in the current elections, managing a double-figure turnout with 13 votes. Despite this improvement, Feeney was still at the bottom of the pile.
Marian Agrios, a one-time candidate for Fine Gael in the local elections, found herself in a predicament. Large financial sums received for dropping an objection to a housing project near her residence led to her withdrawal from the Louth County Council race. Following this incident, Agrios requested voters not to cast their ballots in her favour. Despite formally withdrawing, her name remained on the ballot paper for the Drogheda Rural LEA, due to the late notice.
Despite the wider audience failing to grasp her message, she obtained the support of 105 individuals who placed her as their first choice. Many expressed their displeasure regarding the extent of the Midlands-North-West ballot paper over the past days. The 73cm long paper, featuring 27 candidates, was likened to a roll of toilet paper by Michael Ring, the representative from Mayo, labelling it an embarrassment. By Sunday night, journalists situated in Castlebar, growing weary from the anticipation of the first tallying of votes for the constituency, whimsically pondered on the number of Midlands-North-West ballot papers it would require to reach the moon.
In a familial victory, Nessa Cosgrove of the Labour Party celebrated her triumph in Sligo, a day following her sibling, Shane O’Callaghan’s lead in the Fine Gael polls in Cork South Central. “Our relationship is quite strong,” she explained. “It’s always a delight having someone to discuss political matters with. Not many individuals relish political conversations.”
In a different setting, Fine Gael’s Britto Pereppadan, at the age of 24, was declared the winner in the ninth round of counting for Tallaght Central. His father, Baby Pereppadan, had achieved success during the earlier sixth round of voting for Tallaght South on the same day.