SAMUEL Beckett would have enjoyed the scene. A reporter, a photographer, two electoral officers and a garda. Waiting, not for Godot, but for the elusive voter.
The minutes ticked by with agonising slowness yesterday at Scoil Naisiunta Naomh Ronain on Inis Mor, where half the island's residents were asked to cast their votes in the bail referendum.
It could have been a remake of the famous "Ta siad ag teacht" Guinness ad, except there was no sign of a currach pulling in with a keg, and nobody there to drink from it.
The presiding officer, Mr Sean Goill, studied the big colour map of the European Union on the classroom wall and fiddled with his chair. Finally, for want of something better to do, he poured himself a cup of tea from a big flask and tucked into a hefty pile of sandwiches.
His assistant, Mr Daithi Beidhtaigh, rolled himself a cigarette before opening The Book of Aran, a compendium of writings about the islands. Behind the school two men were building a small store. "Referendum? What's it all about?" one of them asked in Irish.
By lunchtime only 20 of the 307 voters on the Cill Ronain electoral list had bothered to cast their votes. Indications later in the day strengthened speculation that the island was heading for an all time record low turnout.
Of those at the polling station who expressed an opinion, a majority said they voted Yes, but there were several dissenting voices. The only clear winners were the schoolchildren, whose day off school coincided with unseasonably warm and sunny weather.
The News at One on Raidio an Gaeltachta confirmed the general lack of interest in the referendum. An MRBI poll for the station found that unemployment, not crime or drugs, was top of the list of voter concerns in Galway West.
Those who turned up to vote offered a range of opinions, but they were united on one point the Government had not supplied enough information to enable them to make an informed choice. "I don't think the people understand the issues," said one.
There was dissatisfaction, too, at the policy of holding the offshore vote three days before everyone else. Mr Terry Heery, a Dubliner who has been living on the island for 13 years, said the tradition was an unnecessary "relic" of a bygone era. "There is no earthly reason for this carry on," he said. "The rest of the country will be debating for the next three days how they are going to vote, and we'll miss out on that."
The postmaster, Mr Martin Fitzpatrick, said all the referendum posters he received referred to the referendum date as November 28th. He changed the date on the poster in his post office by hand on Saturday, he said, when he discovered the voting was due to take place on Monday. "I'd say 90 per cent of the island doesn't even know it's on," he said. "You'd probably have a bigger vote if it was on the same day as the rest."