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Statements by Our Candidates in the 2005 Elections

David McAuley

Count fiasco blamed on privatisation

Saturday 7th May 2005

The reason the count in Derry took so long is that the process had been contracted out to a private firm.

Once again, private proves less efficient than public.

Britain had a government elected in a shorter time than it took to open the ballot boxes in some constituencies here. Over there, council workers handle the count on an ordinary overtime basis. It's the same workforce from election to election. They become expert. Here, it's down to a higgledy-piggeldy combination of volunteers and outside companies. Friday's fiasco was the result.

Thus, we had the ludicrous spectacle in late afternoon of the deputy returning officer rushing from the Templemore Sports Complex to a barn on the Letterkenny Road in search of missing boxes from Mid Ulster, identifying the votes, resealing the boxes and dashing back to Templemore with the missing ballots on her knee. Meanwhile, both the Foyle and Mid-Ulster counts were held up.

This wouldn't have happened if the council had handled the election in-house. But then, council chiefs have become so used to handing functions over to the private sector---security at council-sponsered public events is another example---that they probably did it automatically.

The conclusion to be drawn is that privatisation and contracting out doesn't work. Whoever is declared elected to the council on Monday and Tuesday should take note.





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