How was the Midlands-North West European Count Centre chosen ?

heyjude

I was just wondering how the location for the European Election centre for the Midlands-North West count centre was chosen ?

In the case of the Dublin constituency, the count centre was obviously in Dublin, in the huge Ireland South constituency, the count centre was in Cork, the biggest city and most populous county in that constituency, but how was Castlebar in Co Mayo, chosen as the count centre for the Midlands-North West constituency ?

Galway is the most populous county in the constituency(and has the biggest city), Kildare is the second most populous and the biggest in population terms in the Midlands part of the constituency(with Meath not far behind), while somewhere like Westmeath would have been more central(leaving aside the by-election there).

Logistically, holding the count in a more central location would seem to make more sense or otherwise hold it where most votes are cast so either Galway or Kildare/Meath, so why locate the count centre in Mayo ? I can only think of one reason :rolleyes: Anyone got a plausible alternative explanation ?

Knob Longman

Rock/Scissors

howiya

Inda said Castlebar was a great spot

Conmaicne Mara

Why not Westport Castlebar, all they need is a place to count the ballots.

oscarBravo

I would imagine the availability of the TF - a large space with all the amenities required for candidates and press, as well as experience hosting counts - was a major factor.

Used to be the west / northwest count centre too when it was about midway between Donegal and Clare.

Riskymove

The Mayo Returning Officer was appoionted the Returning Officer for the Constituency, hence the count centre being in Mayo

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

RobertKK

Enda thought it was a central location, and there are votes in getting extra business for locals as people need to be fed and somewhere to stay if they can keep the vote counting going on for days :P

heyjude

Riskymove wrote: »

The Mayo Returning Officer was appoionted the Returning Officer for the Constituency, hence the count centre being in Mayo

Who is responsible for appointing the returning officer for European Elections ?
and will a different returning officer be appointed for the next European Election or does Mayo have the gig permanently now ?

Riskymove

heyjude wrote: »

Who is responsible for appointing the returning officer for European Elections ?
and will a different returning officer be appointed for the next European Election or does Mayo have the gig permanently now ?

They are appointed by the Minister for the Environment each time I think...not permanent afaik

MayoSalmon

Why Not

heyjude

MayoSalmon wrote: »

Why Not

If you're asking why not, as regards, why the Midlands-North West counts shouldn't be held permanently in Castlebar ? The obvious reason would be that its located on the periphery of a large constituency rather than a more central location like Athlone, its not a major population centre within the constituency(Mayo has the fifth largest population of the counties in the constituency), it isn't the only centre within the constituency with previous European Election count centre experience and it seems to have been selected for political reasons(as its in the Taoiseach's home county). In the future, hopefully politics will not influence where the count is held. I don't believe for one moment that Castlebar is the only place in the Midland/North West where the count could have been held(check where the Ireland East count was held in 2009), but its hard to believe that politics played no role in ensuring that the count took place in the Taoiseach's home county.

If you are asking, why not, in relation to the Minister for the Enviroment choosing the returning officer(thereby directly choosing where the count takes place since a returning officer will choose to hold the count in their area), then I'd say that this case seems to answer the question. In population terms, you wouldn't choose Castlebar, as regards location on the periphery of the constituency you wouldn't choose Castlebar and it also is not the only centre within the Midlands/North West with previous European Election count experience. All things being equal, you'd go for a large population centre/county or somewhere central, which isn't what happened here. Leaving aside keeping the people/politicians of Mayo happy, there doesn't seem to be a single compelling reason why the count needed to be held there rather than somewhere else.