Castlebar venue prepares for biggest election count in Irish history

The TF Royal Hotel Theatre is readying itself for the biggest election count ever seen in the country.

A whopping 27 European election candidates and 73 local election hopefuls will populate the Castlebar count centre this weekend for what is shaping up to be a marathon process.

Pat Jennings, Managing Director of the TF Royal Hotel and Theatre, is preparing the venue and its staff for a major logistical undertaking. He anticipates that the European count could take up to a week to complete.

The Midlands North-West European constituency takes in 15 counties across three provinces with a population - according to the 2022 census - of 1.8 million people. Boundary changes meant that the constituency now takes in Laois and Offaly from Ireland South. The 27 candidates will be battling for five seats.

“This will be not only the biggest we have ever done, but it will be the biggest ever in Ireland," said Mr Jennings. "The Midlands North-West European constituency has an electorate of 1.8 million people and basing the numbers on a 65% return you will have at least one million people voting. You’re talking about a geographical area that stretches from Malin Head to the M50 and from Clifden to the Cooley Peninsula. For the first time, you’re also including two extra counties in Laois and Offaly. That’s absolutely huge and everything has to come to Castlebar,” said Pat.

“To process one million votes takes time and God help us if there are any objections!” he added. “One well-informed person told me that he expects ballot papers to be counted 22 million times."

Across the European Union, a total of 720 MEPs will be elected. The results for the first count of the European elections cannot be announced until the polls have closed throughout Europe, which will be at 10pm Irish time on Sunday, June 9. The official announcement of the final result of the Midlands North-West constituency vote cannot be made until all other European election counts are complete.

Mr Jennings and his venue are veterans of elections with the TF playing host to General, Local, and European elections counts for decades.

“We’re doing this for 25 to 30 years now but this is the biggest one we have ever done. The sheer logistics of it will be a challenge but we have done it before and we know how it works. It will be 24/7 for probably seven days, which will be a lot,” he remarked.

The European count will take place in the main theatre with the local election count being hosted in the Ruby Room downstairs and the Velvet Room upstairs. The various electoral areas will be split up into two separate locations.

“The local election count will probably take two or three days and they tend to be very intense,” said Pat.

As well as the election candidates, their supporters, and political anoraks, the TF will be home for a few days to more than 300 people tasked with counting the votes.

“I was telling our chef today that we’re looking at 10,000 meals. There are 280 people physically counting the votes for the European and there is another 60 for the local election. All those people have to be catered for,” said Mr Jennings.

An unexpected wrinkle was the need to provide new pigeon-holes to accommodate the physical size of the ballot paper for the European vote.

“There are 27 candidates and the pigeon-holes that those ballot papers would be placed into were just too small. So a different one had to be taken in. These are things people don’t think of or expect but this is the kind of thing that gets thrown up,” Pat stated.

Politics at all levels has probably never been more tumultuous and significant security measures will be in place.

“The security has to be right no matter what election it is. There are so many peas in the pod and you have to protect those people. It’s probably more intense nowadays but that’s the reality we are facing,” said Pat.

He said elections can throw up all kinds of human emotions. 

“Some people can get hot and bothered, others are calm throughout.” 

The TF was the site of a lengthy and contentious recount in 2009 when Libertas leader Declan Ganley requested a recheck of ballots in the North-West European count amid concerns that some votes may have been inadvertently allocated to other candidates. However, that recheck found that Mr Ganley had been awarded 3,000 extra votes in error.

“There had to be a recount and we had to go down to a skip and check every single piece of paper. You were basically standing in a skip looking to see if anything election-related had ended up there,” Pat recalls.

The experienced hotelier and venue operator said he remains excited by the process and the challenges it throws up.

“Thankfully we are used to big events and what comes with that,” said the Castlebar man.

Local, national and international media will also have to be accommodated during the count. The hotel is already booked up for the weekend and beyond with hotel rooms elsewhere in the county also set to get an election boost.

“It’s providing big employment locally. There are 93 people working here at the moment and we anticipate that will rise to 200 because of the security involved. The logistics of this is just extraordinary. But that’s good. We are looking forward to it and we will rise to the challenge,” said Pat.