This article is from page 21 of the 2013-10-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
COST cutting measures have resulted in a reduction in polling stations in Clare for the referenda this Friday.
The 13 per cent reduction in polling booths will see the number reduced to 151, 24 less than previous referendum and elections.
The closure of two school houses in the west of the county will also have an impact on where some people can vote.
Those registered to vote at Clooneygullane (Clonigulane) Primary School will now vote at Cahermurphy Primary School, while those registered to vote at Baltard Primary School will now vote at Doonbeg Primary School.
Polling stations have also been amalgamated for financial reasons, therefore people registered to vote at Maria Assumpta Hall, Ennis, will now vote at Holy Family School, Station Road, Ennis, and the two boxes formerly at the Youth Centre, Kilrush Road, Ennis, will be amalgamated into one and moved to the Holy Family School.
Those to vote at the Kilrush Courthouse, Kilrush, will now vote at St Senan’s National School in Kilrush, while all voters to vote at the Boys Primary School on the Kilrush Road, Ennis, will continue to vote at this same location even though the school has relocated.
Returning officer for the county Pat Wallace said his team of workers will be much busier as a result, but he believes “it is doable for a referendum”.
He told The Clare People that this is something his office will continue to review on an on-going basis.
In areas such as Lahinch and Lisdoonvarna, where there were once two polling booths, there will now just be one. In total 83, 544 Clare People are registered to vote in the referenda to decide the proposed Thirty-second Amendment of the Constitution (Abolition of Seanad Éireann) Bill 2013 and the Thirtythird Amendment of the Constitution (Court of Appeal) Bill 2013.
Turn out for referendum in the last number of years has been declining in Clare.
The last referendum – Children’s Rights Bill – was held last November and just 32.3 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote.
The voter turn out for the Stability Referendum the previous June was the lowest in the county in almost a decade at 49.8 per cent turn out in Clare, which was just short of the national average.
Just 30.83 per cent of the electorate in Clare turned out in June 2001 to vote on the first Nice referendum, the abolition of the death penalty and the criminal courts referendum.
This was a huge drop from the previously referendum of June 1999 when 60.05 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote for “Recognition for Local Government.”
In March 2002 just 39.29 per cent of the Clare electorate turned out to vote on the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy, with 47.05 per cent voting on Nice 2 that October.
The largest turn out for a referendum in recent years in Clare was in June 2004, when 64.6 per cent voted on Citizenship.