‘They’re all in it for the right reasons, they all want to make things better’
WHEN Meath's Returning Officer, County Council Director of Services, Dara McGowan takes to the rostrum in Simonstown GFC on Sunday evening to begin delivering the 2024 Local Election count results he’ll be acutely aware that while he is making dreams come true, he'll be shattering hopes for others.
“I do enjoy it and I'm not just making dreams come true, I'll also be breaking dreams, there'll be more dreams shattered than made come true given we have 92 candidates chasing 40 seats.
“It's heartbreaking for those who don't make it on the day so it's the two extremes, you've the people who win lifted high on shoulders and those who lose generally just slipping out the door - but the results won't come as a shock to them, they'll see the counts unfold in a day and half, count by count. The hardest one is where there are two or three left with a chance of claiming the last seat and it goes down to counts 7,8,9,10,11 and the gaps are getting closer. That can be hard on some people alright if it doesn't work out.
With a record 92 candidates putting themselves before the people of Meath this Friday he knows more aspirations will be dashed than the 40 who are elected to Meath county councillors.
But the council official wouldn't have it any other way and he loves the process that decides our local representation every five years. That process will have begun with the gathering up of 700-800 postal votes (nursing homes, overseas defence forces etc), getting ballot boxes to the polling stations, manning the schools and community centres as votes are cast on Friday. Then on Saturday, boxes for both European and Local Elections will be opened in Trim GAA with early tallies taken before the 28” long EU papers are sorted and sent on to Castlebar and the local papers shipped to Simonstown where the full count takes place.
“Well it's my first time as Returning Officer but I think I've been involved in every role of the elections for the last 15 years, I've been very actively involved in it and I enjoy it, I find the whole process fascinating.
“There are over 100 council staff involved on the day and an awful lot of planning takes place between gathering the nominations, tenders for getting printers for ballot papers and all that was taking place through Christmas right up until late last month when nominations were closed off. And that is really fascinating because we have 92 candidates this time around which is 14 higher than the last time in 2109 so there are a lot more people taking part in this process.
“All the candidates are in it for the right reasons, they all want to make things better, they all feel there is challenges in life and they want to improve things and this is the first step in doing that. “It's great to see them all so positive, I hope they stay positive through the process but they're all in a very good space, they are all ambitious and I'd like to wish them all the best of luck.”
McGowan say the council staff who are there for the weekend wouldn't have it any other way. “Most of the staff involved have all been there before and they love it. We've only two staff members this time around that haven't done a count before. It's nearly a calling, once you get involved and you get to understand the process and they do enjoy it and it's a shared experience for us and the candidates.
“And ultimately, the process is beyond reproach, the amount of checks we do is incredible, nothing is done by one person, each ballot is probably counted and weighed by between four and six people to make sure everything is right.”