General Election 2016. The Lead In.

So we’re all getting ready for the general election in Roscommon and around the country too. There is a small bit of fun watching Fianna Fáil run around Roscommon Galway chasing their tail.

Eugene Murphy the party stalwart of many years has to the best of my knowledge 30 years experience as an elected representative in Roscommon. That’s some feat, to represent the people of East Roscommon for over 28 years and the last two he represents the North and East of the County. Eugene is on Shannonside FM, has a high profile as well as representing the people from Arigna to Tarmonbarry all the way across to Ballaghaderreen. “Eug” is not wanted it seems!

What about Ivan the favoured son last time? He’s well regarded by Roscommon movers in the party we hear. He’s also connected to the constituency boss Mary Devine O Callaghan. Her brother is married to his sister. Something is happening and it appears that Ivan is not wanted this time. Of course he was highly critical of Micheal Martin last year. Remember Christmas and what he said?  A lot in Fianna Fáil have fallen out with Ivan, even Rachel Doherty has turned against Ivan and is full square behind Eugene Murphy.

John Keogh is another Fianna Fáil councillor who wants to run. I don’t know John but I do know he’s involved in a bit of a disagreement with Paddy Kilduff another FF councillor and traditional party loyalist whom I know for many a year and reckon he was the power behind Fianna Fáil in Roscommon in previous years.

So what’s the point of this first blog of the General Election 2016 campaign? Well it’s this. I’m watching Fianna Fáil travel over to Belmullet to get a Mayo GP to run in the Senate by election in a no hope election. He’s up against Labour’s Maria Cahill who is running for the seat won by Jimmy Harte (son of the former  Fine Gael TD for Donegal and peace activist Paddy Harte) in the last senate election.

 Jimmy had a bad fall a couple of years ago and has never properly recovered so he’s decided to retire. This seat should be won by Maria as the tradition is that Fine Gael and Labour will vote for the Government candidate! Yes that’s Maria.

This Mayo GP has been promised that he will be candidate in the General election in Roscommon,  and he might get elected.  “Didn’t Fitzmaurice get elected in Roscommon Leitrim the last time and he was from Galway” the Mount St crew will claim. They’ll also say he was only elected a councillor a few months previously so experience is not important.

“It’s all profile and we’ll build the Dr’s profile”.  It’s all about the hospital we’ll make sure we picture him with a stethoscope round his neck! Health and Reilly are what we’ll remind the people of Roscommon about.  This doctor I predict will be seen as the saviour of health services in Roscommon. He’s going to be Tom Foxe and Denis Naughten rolled into one he’s going to be what Dr. Greg Kelly was not allowed to be, he’s going to have the Dublin crowd behind him and  the senior local figures. 

Do you know what though?

He’ll not have the Rossies nor the Galway crowd either cause he’s a Mayo man parachuted into the constituency. He’s not Eugene, he’s not Ivan, he’s not Doherty! In Castlerea he’s not Pascal  he might have come from Castlerea once but  he’s definitely not Greg. The doctor North Roscommon wanted but establishment Fianna Fáil did not.

Anyway from what I’m hearing, grassroots Fianna Fáil are not happy but then are they ever? 

I reckon they still, just might pick him!

Twitter Followers at a Price!

It’s great what can be done with technology especially when it comes to communications. Twitter is tonight’s topic.

 “Hugh you have a nice few followers but I reckon if you bought a few thousand you’d get rakes more followers!”  This was the advice I was getting for about 6 months!  One fellow told me about his friend from Frenchpark who bought 10,000 and gets 10 followers a day! “When you have lots of followers people just follow!” Money makes money!  

Anyway I spoke to another friend in late June and said what I was being told. We agreed I should do an experiment and like all things to do with Lynn I forgot about it! More important things on my mind in July 14! 

Anyway in August I was chatting to that friend again and we said that we should give it a shot. So here’s what we did. I bought 3,000 followers for $5.00 or just over €3. Where could you go wrong at €3.00? Nothing could go wrong! 

Let me explain there are actually people who make a living from creating multiple twitter accounts and then selling them as followers. Twitter farmers we could call them. They breed these accounts and then harvest the crop i.e follow other accounts. They charge a dollar a thousand or even a euro. Handy money if you can get it.  

So I sent the money  to one of these farmers and waited and waited and then it started the followers arrived and I suddenly got 2,200 extra followers! So I was now down 800 that I had bought before I even started!  

So what!  I was up 2,200! Then it started!  I began to lose followers. I was at 3,400 and then it was 3,000 and next it was down to 1800 and they kept dropping away! 

Panic stations. Was I losing my genuine followers?? Need to be careful. So I started to watch my account. I signed up to unfollowers.com and discovered that these purchased followers were actually being suspended! (Twitter must not agree with “twitter farming”!)

So 100 days later I've less than 240 of these purchased followers left. I have increased my following but I think it’s due to what I’m saying and sharing! Lots of my new followers also retweet things that I’ve posted! 

Moral of the story, like Fine Gael and the” Facebook likes” they purchased.  I reckon it’s a) a waste of money b) a cause of distrust for genuine followers c) proof positive that Content is still the King.

 Anyway I’ll not be buying anymore! 

My Parish and how we voted!

I live in Loughglynn and we are a parish of three village units namely Loughglynn, Lisacul and Gorthaganny. We have 3 polling booths in the parish and this is the way we voted this year!

	Loughglynn	Gortaganny	Lisacul	Parish
Ivan Connaughton  FF	52	19	56	127
Emmet Corcoran - Ind	3	0	3	6
Tom Crosby - Ind	0	0	1	1
Mich Fitzmaurice - Ind	96	28	83	207
Des Guckian - Ind	0	0	1	1
Maura Hopkins - F G	80	11	80	171
John Kelly - Lab	97	17	115	229
Martin Kenny - S Féin	30	7	26	63
John McDermott - Ind	14	1	11	26
Gerry O'Boyle - Ind	2	0	0	2

We want Inexperience! Insiders not welcome! A question of trust!

It’s always sad to see something end and I suppose the opposite is true too. It nice to be at the start of something new!  Today we really saw the end of Tom Crosby as a political heavy weight.

A young “inexperienced” brat from Strokestown Emmett Corcoran has just beaten the experienced former Mayor of Roscommon Tom Crosby in the first count in Roscommon South Leitrim. 

A first time councillor from Ballaghaderreen in Maura Hopkins got a vote of 5593, A first time councillor from Glinsk just took a bigger vote of 6220  and the other first time councillor Ivan Connaughton just topped the poll with 7334.

  The system was broken and in fact the whole set up has been smashed but not by first timers no way it was smashed by “experienced bankers, politicians and experienced regulators” as Emmett told us on Vincent Browne on Tuesday night.

Tom fought this battle on his experience, Emmett on his inexperience! We, the country are fed up with how things were done. The Mc Nulty affair has displayed that Enda can do the same things as Bertie or Cowan. We’re fed up!

The parties are taking a hiding and Fianna Fáil are now probably going to go for Micheal Martin’s head as he’s the leader! Big mistake lads! You’re calling it wrong! Your problem is closer to home! The party people on the ground, the local organisation could be your downfall. The people you choose locally may be the issue. That’s not pointed at Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael it’s a global sweeping statement! 

Can you be trusted?? 

Count Roscommon South Leitrim

Turnout                33572

Spoiled                 262

Valid Poll               33572

Quota                   16656

Result

			First	Fifth	sixth	Seven
Ivan Connaughton  FF			7334	8863	10083	12050
Emmet Corcoran - Ind		Elm	1262	0
Tom Crosby - Ind		Elm	1030	0
Mich Fitzmaurice - Ind			6220	9211	11722	14881
Des Guckian - Ind		Elm	902	0
Maura Hopkins - F G			5593	7312	8476
John Kelly - Lab		Elm	2037	0
Martin Kenny - S Féin		Elm	5906	7022
John McDermott - Ind		Elm	2944	0
Gerry O'Boyle - Ind		Elm	82	0

Sixth Count 

			First	Fifth	sixth
Ivan Connaughton  FF			7334	8863	10083
Emmet Corcoran - Ind		Elm	1262	0
Tom Crosby - Ind		Elm	1030	0
Mich Fitzmaurice - Ind			6220	9211	11722
Des Guckian - Ind		Elm	902	0
Maura Hopkins - F G			5593	7312	8476
John Kelly - Lab		Elm	2037	0
Martin Kenny - S Féin		Elm	5906	7022
John McDermott - Ind		Elm	2944	0
Gerry O'Boyle - Ind		Elm	82	0

Fifth Count Ivan Connaughton  FF 7334 8863 Emmet Corcoran - Ind Elm 1262 0 Tom Crosby - Ind       Elm 1030 0 Mich Fitzmaurice - Ind   6220 9211 Des Guckian - Ind Elm 902 0 Maura Hopkins - F G 5593 7312 John Kelly - Lab          Elm 2037 0 Martin Kenny - S Féin 5906 7022 John McDermott - Ind Elm 2944 0 Gerry O'Boyle - Ind Elm 82 0 Fourth Count  Ivan Connaughton - Fianna Fail  7334 168 7502 150 7652 194 7846 Emmet Corcoran - Independent  Elm 1262 43 1305 178 1483 -1483 0 Tom Crosby - Independent         Elm 1030 33 1063 -1063 0 0 Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent     6220 151 6371 254 6625 450 7075 Des Guckian - Independent     Elm 902 -902 0 0 0 Maura Hopkins - Fine Gael  5593 149 5742 122 5864 211 6075 John Kelly - Labour            elm 2037 23 2060 30 2090 54 2144 Martin Kenny - Sinn Fein  5906 278 6184 99 6283 164 6447 John McDermott - Independent  elm 2944 74 3018 169 3187 281 3468 Gerry O'Boyle - Independent  Elm 82 -82 0 0 0 Third Count
Ivan Connaughton - Fianna Fail  7334 168 7502 150 7652 Emmet Corcoran - Independent  Elm 1262 43 1305 178 1483 Tom Crosby - Independent         Elm 1030 33 1063 -1063 0 Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent     6220 151 6371 254 6625 Des Guckian - Independent     Elm 902 -902 0 0 Maura Hopkins - Fine Gael  5593 149 5742 122 5864 John Kelly - Labour            2037 23 2060 30 2090 Martin Kenny - Sinn Fein  5906 278 6184 99 6283 John McDermott - Independent  2944 74 3018 169 3187 Gerry O'Boyle - Independent  Elm 82 -82 0 0

Second Count 

Ivan Connaughton - Fianna Fail			7334	168	7502
Emmet Corcoran - Independent			1262	43	1305
Tom Crosby - Independent			1030	33	1063
Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent			6220	151	6371
Des Guckian - Independent		Elm	902	-902	0
Maura Hopkins - Fine Gael			5593	149	5742
John Kelly - Labour			2037	23	2060
Martin Kenny - Sinn Fein			5906	278	6184
John McDermott - Independent			2944	74	3018
Gerry O'Boyle - Independent		Elm	82	-82	0

First Count 

Ivan Connaughton - Fianna Fail			7334
Emmet Corcoran - Independent			1262
Tom Crosby - Independent			1030
Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent			6220
Des Guckian - Independent			902
Maura Hopkins - Fine Gael			5593
John Kelly - Labour			2037
Martin Kenny - Sinn Fein			5906
John McDermott - Independent			2944
Gerry O'Boyle - Independent			82

The Slow Count

There was I on the road to the Hyde this morning and it as foggy as I've seen this year! Bye election should be sorted by 2 o clock I figured! 130 odd boxes should be handy enough, there’s only one seat! Anyway I was there for the Tally did my bit of mixing, chatting, renewing acquaintances. This is where I’m at total ease! I’m among a group of fellow junkies and we talk at a level that I can’t normally do. We know the importance of Geography, History all the things that can have an effect on votes! Pieces of paper draw a crowd as we look at the latest figures for the Tally.

Hugh “I was reading Rural Rossie great stuff keep it going”.  “What did Paddy Power do to you?” All these comments make a man feel good. Yeah I’m being read. Anyway as I left the Hyde to go home I started getting phone calls and people were cross because there was no count at 1:30!! Lads nothing to do with me! “Scotland stopped voting at 10pm and at 6am the following morning they had the result of their referendum! “ Why can’t the Republic sort themselves out?

It’s not just a Republic of Ireland thing either! I read a piece previously on the BBC website about the manual counting of votes system in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland's chief electoral officer Graham Shields wants future elections to use an electronic counting system. He claims that there is technology that would allow the process to be completed in a matter of hours rather than days. "Mr Shields said the system allows ballots to be read and calculated by a computer instead of being counted by hand. He claims it had been used in Scottish local elections since 2007 and that it was "very, very efficient".

My proposal is we continue with Bertie’s pencil and paper but we use electronic counting of the votes. We can’t trust the voting machines at the moment. What we’ll get is, results with a paper trail, a quicker result and we’ll be able to stand over it. What more do we want?

Well I suppose the great thing we have in Ireland is common sense in elections. We have the “doubtful” votes pile which are checked by officials and candidates before they are judged to be spoiled votes. In any electronic counting system the votes that may be doubtful must be checked by humans as we do at the moment! (Can’t have a German type application of a black and white rule on doubtful votes.)

That was as far as I know the only issue Scotland has had with its system which it introduced in 2007!

Will Roscommon South Leitrim By-election be the last manual count in Ireland? I fear not. 

Tally of Roscommon South Leitrim Bye Election Votes

This is the tally figure however the consensus is that this is not an accurate Tally!  

Ivan Connaughton - Fianna Fail	7077
Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent	6073
Martin Kenny - Sinn Fein	5677
Maura Hopkins - Fine Gael	5516
John McDermott - Independent	2964
John Kelly - Labour	2011
Emmet Corcoran - Independent	1257
Tom Crosby - Independent	1016
Des Guckian - Independent	896
Gerry O'Boyle - Independent	81

How accurate we will see in before 4 o clock!