THE elusive floating voter was playing hard to get on Clare Island yesterday, as Mayo's three inhabited islands cast their votes two days ahead of the rest of the Republic.
A local ferry, the Pirate Queen, glided smoothly over the 3 1/2 miles of calm sea between Roonagh; the nearest mainland harbour, and Granuaile's forbidding looking stronghold on the island.
In the midday heat there was no sign of islanders returning home to cast their votes, just a handful of tourists, a TnaG news team and The Irish Times. The polling station in St Patrick's National School was empty, apart from returning officer Bernard McCabe and a garda sent in for the day from Newport.
The island's development officer, Donal O'Shea, knew the journalists had deadlines to meet and pictures of voters to capture on video. He went fishing for camera fodder in his Ford Fiesta, stopping whenever he passed an islander. "Have you cast your vote yet?" he inquired hopefully.
He criticised Mayo County Council's "anachronistic" decision to stick to tradition and hold the vote early on Clare Island, Inisturk and Inisbiggle, unlike islanders off the Donegal and Galway coasts who for the first time will vote on Friday.
He said that undecided voters on the three Mayo islands would not be able to watch last night's television debate between John Bruton and Bertie Ahern before voting. It was unfair to deprive them of that opportunity, especially in the context of a possible hung Dail where every vote would count.
One elderly gentleman said some islanders were taking advantage of the fine weather to cut turf, and would not vote until later in the evening.
Despite the slow start, the local postmistress, Ann Moran, predicted a substantial turnout. "There have been quite a few people in here canvassing for Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, but no one from the smaller parties, other than all the literature I have delivered," she said.
The former Fianna Fail TD and local councillor, Martin O'Toole, mounted a solitary vigil outside the polling station. His rosette proclaimed his support for outgoing Westport TD, Seamus Hughes.
He confidently predicted victory for his man despite the nail biting contest in Mayo.
Michael Barrett, from the townland of Gurteen on the island, repeated the unanimous refrain of islanders that the vote should have been held on the same day as the rest of the State.
He said the Fianna Fail candidate, Seamus Hughes, was the only one to visit the island, and predicted he would get a good vote as a result.
Kerry student, John O'Shea (19), who is working on the island for the summer, cast his vote for the first time in a general election. He confessed to knowing little about local politics and said he gave his No 1 to the Green Party. "The environment comes first," he said.