‘Some craic’: Novelty t-shirts brighten up long days at Cork count centre

As vote counting in Ireland’s European elections dragged on, days after people had cast their ballot, one Corkman’s t-shirts helped to keep spirits high.

Counters busily shuffled through lengthy ballot papers for days at the count centre in Nemo Rangers GAA Club, and despite one elected MEP after two days of counting, it took another two full days before anyone else was elected.

Amid the bustle, a man marching up and down the rows of counters with ballots slung over his shoulder caught people’s eye.

Count staffer Cian O’Connor, from Douglas, wore a different novelty T-shirt for each day at the sport hall, getting a giggle from counters and lifting the mood of observers.

“The counts can be a bit intense so I bring the t-shirts along. When you’re up and down the line to people, people get a bit of a giggle out of something written on a t-shirt,” he said.

This is his third time working on a European election count, and he has also worked on all the general elections and referenda counts in between.

“Outside of counts, I generally wear these kinds of t-shirts anyway, but you kind of know when you do come to the count here people usually get a laugh, so I keep it going.

“As it happens, my birthday coincided with the start of the elections, so I made sure I had a couple of appropriate t-shirts for different days on the count,” he said.

“So towards the end of the count you have ‘look at the time’, because we’re going to be out the door; ‘How bad’, one more day, and ‘some craic’ is we’re having a laugh at times.

“Most of the days, the people are in good form. Once you get the first cup of coffee in and you get motoring, everybody is in pretty good form and everybody is up for a laugh, despite the seriousness of what is going on and the concentration levels having to be so high.” 

He added: “My father used to do it before me, he got me into it a long time back. He passed away recently and I’ve continued it, and my sister is here as well.

“It’s actually a good buzz. I’ve a good interest in politics as well so it’s nice to be in the mix.” 

Asked if he has enjoyed the count, he said: “Oh yes. You’d be tired every morning when you wake up but by the time you’re half-way through the day everybody is in good form.” 

With the threat of a general election looming after the local and European election results, will he have enough t-shirts for the autumn? “There’s always more t-shirts,” he said.