With a ballot paper in one hand...

Personal reflections on last week's election

(15 years ago, Danny Morrison asked:

"Will anyone object if we [Sinn Fein] take power in this country with a ballot box in one hand, and an Armalite [rifle] in the other?")
 

Participating in, and then watching, the election last week, my overwhelming feeling was one of pride.

 

Pride in the evenly-balanced system of proportional representation by which we choose our government.

 

Pride in Joseph McCarthy -- the computer programmer whose expert analysis exposed the appalling loopholes in the government's plan for electronic voting.

 

Pride in the Irish people for sticking with a talented and successful leader, rather than changing him for the sake of change, when nothing better was on offer.

 

Pride in the national spectacle of democracy in action -- with tally men and vote counters beavering away, while people around the country watched and listened with interest to the unfolding drama.

 

Pride in the generations of poor Irish Catholic people who supported Daniel O'Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell and others, so that one day we might govern ourselves in a peaceful, civilised and prosperous island.

 

And, on a personal note, pride in my father for his insightful analysis of what it all meant.

 

My only embarrassment is that the voters in my own constituency cast more first preference votes for two untested party hacks -- Chris Andrews and Lucinda Creighton -- than for experienced politicians of real substance: Ruairi Quinn, John Gormley and Michael McDowell.

 

But the people are sovereign.  And, to quote my father:

 

"Long may we wield power in this country, with a ballot paper in one hand, and a pencil in the other."