All over bar the shouting

and God knows there will be plenty enough of that.

I would like to thank everyone that voted for me, and those who couldn't vote but who were hugely helpful throughout the process. It has been a long old road since last September but it hasn't been that lonely a journey.

I got some opportunities to raise the issue of the residential charges in the public consciousness and while it may not yet have borne fruit it is something I will persist with. The money been collected is neither needed nor does the logic of applying it to the disabled as if they were the same as the elderly hold up.

I do feel I've been successful to a degree because the issue of extending the franchise has been something that most candidates haven't felt they could ignore. Now that is by no means solely down to my presence in the race (guess I'm showing my main failing as a politician by not claiming complete credit for something I had a mostly tangential involvement with) but even if my being around was responsible for just one or two extra nudges in the right direction then I say it was worthwhile having someone impacted by the ongoing failure to act on this issue in the race.

As to the possible results well, at this stage it ranges from very hard to nigh on impossible to say what the likely outcome might be. We could yet be surprised that the presence of so many entrants will mean a great deal of the valid poll will have just voted their top 2/3 and left it at that. Or maybe that the vote will be incredibly evenly scattered amongst the various candidates or perhaps that the incumbents are abandoned by their electorate and 3 completely new people are installed. I reckon at the absolute limit we might get two new members of the Seanad from the NUI panel but much more likely is that the status quo will remain the same. A pity after all the huffing and puffing from all the little piggies but I guess in this case the 3 little pigs have houses built of the same material - ongoing national press coverage.

I'll have to give Naoise a shout at some point during the day to find out about when it is considered prudent and polite to ask for a recount. After all, his experience in the 2004 battle for Clontarf has to be worth something.

Again, a big thank you to everyone that voted for me, those who just considered it and those for whom the idea of voting for me gave them nightmares. Remember, I could be back.