He’s 81 — but who’s counting? Octogenarian Bill Ring certainly was.
He was among the 200 or so count staff on duty at the Nemo Rangers sports complex in Cork city across the weekend sifting through tens of thousands of ballot papers from Cork North Central and Cork South Central.
Bill was the oldest person on the count staff, and possibly the oldest vote counter in the country.
While some candidates felt their age, and others visibly aged during the campaign, Bill, from Bishopstown, was sprightly and enthusiastic as ever more than half a century on from his first election count job.
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He recalled working on his first count in St Francis Hall on Sheares Street in December 1972 — the referenda on the proposed fourth and fifth amendments to the Constitution — and reflected on the changing political landscape, from a time when the old five-seat Cork Borough constituency, which was abolished in 1969, was replaced with Cork City North West and Cork City South East.
“That was the time you had Peter Barry’s father (Anthony) and the Fianna Fáil man Gus Healy fighting always for the last seat,” he said.
“One fella would win it one election and the other fella would win it the next election. The change since then has been unbelievable.
One election stands out more than others — the six-vote thriller between former Fianna Fáil TD John Dennehy and disability rights campaigner, Kathy Synott, in 2002.
“You could have a recount, but normally your count could go on two days, maybe a third day, but that would be the maximum," Bill recalled.
"But then you had the famous recounts between John Dennehy and Kathy Sinnott in 2002, you had three counts.
“That was some count, let me tell you. The decision to stop the count and go home, or to keep going into the night, has always been the gift of the returning officer.
“Sometimes we would be here until 1am, it would vary, it would depend on whether he thought he could get it over with, or he could adjourn it till the morning.”
And Bill thinks this might be his last count.
“I’m 81 years of age now. In five years' time I'll be 86, I mightn’t even be around, but sure you never know,” he said.
“Mind you, I suppose if I managed the six days of the European elections last June, I could manage anything.”