I spent the Whit weekend bank holiday in Gleann Cholm Cille, enjoying both time with my family and Comórtas Peile na Gaeltachta – the Gaeltacht football championships. Photos from the latter can be seen elsewhere on this site.
One of the things that struck me over the weekend was the Lisbon treaty electioneering. In the four days I spent there, I didn’t see a single Yes campaign poster in the parish, despite the fact that it’s in the home constituency of Tánaiste Mary Coughlan.
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Maybe there was a ceasefire during the football championship, and the No campaign had broken ranks. Or maybe the local party activists just weren’t that motivated.
As it turns out, Donegal South West had one of the highest No votes in the country, deciding almost two to one against the proposal to amend the constitution.
But I’ve just been told the ballot box in An Caiseal in the heart of Gleann Cholm Cille returned a Yes majority, one of the few voting centres in the constituency where that happened.
So if the government decides to re-run the referendum, maybe the Yes advocates should campaign less next time.