The Twenty-Six County Republic of Ireland held a general election last month. Less than 63 per cent of the electorate voted, the lowest figure in the history of the twenty-six counties, and this despite the fact that polling booths were open from 7.30 a.m. until 10.30 p.m., a total of fifteen hours.

In three constituencies, Dublin North, Dublin West and Meath, electronic voting was introduced, replacing decades of voting with paper and pencil. In a bizarre twist, the hard discs from each voting machine were removed and sent to a central location, where their contents were transferred into another computer for tabulation. As a consequence, it took five hours before results were announced. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant!

One senior citizen gave her enthusiastic approval to electronic voting. It took her all of ten seconds to record her votes-the proportional representation system is used in Ireland, hence voters may record their first, second, or more preferences in favour of candidates.

"It was so easy, a baby could do it," she said.

In most constituencies counting of ballots cast the old fashioned way lasted one, two, and even three days. In the case of one constituency the final tally took a full week to complete.

Almost a quarter of the 166 members of the new Dáil (Dublin Parliament) are relatives of former or current members, known as deputies. Eighteen are sons of former deputies; eight are daughters, five are brothers, with the remaining number comprised of three grandsons, and one each of nephew, cousin, granddaughter and grandnephew.

Canadians familiar with the concept of the Family Compact in their own country, long since uprooted and cast away, can only marvel at its longevity in Ireland.

In the heel of the hunt, the outgoing government remains in office with the support of a coalition partner. Full results may be found at the Government of Ireland website-see Links Page.