I’m getting very tardy here lately. 12 days since I last posted something and even then that was mainly a copy and paste job. I could write about the weather but we have been relatively lucky down here. I’m beginning to think the town is radioactive because it was snowing everywhere within a two mile radius but it was bloody raining here.

Many many years ago the communist journalist Claud Cockburn described Youghal as “standing at a slight angle to the universe.” I’m beginning to understand what he means now.

Anyone notice anything odd? Click for bigger.

Given that I was only selected as a candidate just 5 weeks before the election meant that I would have an awful lot of work and canvassing to do. My exams didn’t finish until the 7th of May which left me with just under four weeks to get out and about so the odds were against me from the start.

My realistic target was the ninth seat and from the start I knew my main opposition would be one of the sitting Sinn Fein councillors. Once the first count was over and the dust settled I was very very close. She had 168 first preference votes and I had 154. Her running mate topped the poll with 524 first preferences and that was a clear indicator for me that I was going to be out of luck. Sinn Fein have a very well oiled political machine and core group of tactical voters. With a quota of 342 they were going to have a huge surplus from their poll topper.

Sure enough this proved to be the case as the second Sinn Fein candidate pulled in a whopping 112 transfer votes to give her a lead of just over 100 votes on me.

One of my running mates had a first count of 508 first preferences and a surplus of 166 votes however as there were three of us Fine Gael candidates, the transfers were going to be split between us. This proved to be the case and from each count on I was trailing the Sinn Fein candidate by in and around 100 votes after each count.

So the end result is that I missed out by 93 votes but I’m not too disappointed! 154 first preference votes and by the end of counting I had a total of 246 which,  from my relatively short campaign is quite an achievment and I’m pretty pleased over all.

On the upside got my exam results on Wednesday and I passed!

So I can finally start enjoying my summer holidays!

All that remains is to congratulate the candidates that were elected and thank you to those of you who gave me your first preference. There is always next time.

All of April was spent preparing for my exams the last of which was on the 7th of May. From the 8th of May I was out pounding the pavement as much as possible. I’m now into my fourth and final week canvassing and althoughI’ve covered most of the town it is regrettable that there will be some areas that I just wont have the time to get to.

However on the upside by tonight I should have about 9 tenths of the town canvassed.

During the past four weeks we (my canvassers and I) have been freezing cold, soaking wet, bitten by dogs and for the past few days combating heat stroke! It has certainly been some experience.

The reaction that I have been getting on the doorsteps has been overwhelmingly positive. The most common reply after introducing myself has been “as least you are not from the other shower!” and many profane variants of the same.. It is probably obvious but the public anger towards Fianna Fail is much greater than I thought. It is hard to explain just how angry people are but I have heard from many life long Fianna Fail supporters who have said that they will never vote for them ever again.

So there are only three more days to go. Fatigue is starting to set in, as too is the resignation that I will not be able to canvass some areas which is personally very disappointing. But as polling day gets closer the more nervous things become. Still I can be proud of my campaign and the work that I have put in so far. None of which would have been possible without the fantastic support of the members of our local Fine Gael branch who have been out with me canvassing day and night. Whatever the results of the count on Saturday I will be forever grateful to them all.

Fingers crossed!

P.S. over on YoughalOnline there is a profile of myself with pictures of me on the campaign trail last week.

If anyone is interested, the KML file is available here.

From the 7th of May however I will have the best part of four weeks to start pounding the pavement which I plan to do on a near constant basis until the 4th of June. The elections are the 5th but traditionally there is a moratorium on canvassing the day before.

As you might imagine there is a lot of ground to be covered and if anyone is interested there is slightly over 5500 on the register of electors in the Youghal urban area.

And of course to anybody from Youghal who happens to be reading this I hope that you will give me your consideration come polling day and no doubt I will meet you over the coming weeks.

Anyway all that aside, I have finally got around to sorting out some of the many photos that I took recently and here is one from Patricks day.

Two of the lads from Youghalonline preparing for their live webcast. On the left is Shane Supple and on the right is Kieran McCarthy.

Most of you know that I have another site that serves as my main website. It is in a bit of a need of a tidyup in places but I’ve just added another page to it with all three (so far!) of my panoramic photos. The one from this morning is the one in the middle. Have a look here.

We also met Mickey Noel Whyte and his brother Jacky. Both of whom are infamous for various reasons as anyone from Youghal can testify! Jacky is on the left and Mickey Noel is on the right.

I decided to try none the less so here is another panorama of Youghal taken from County Waterford. The original photos were taken on the 18th of November at about 9:15 in the morning so everything is a bit murky and dull.