Tallymen at work in the count centre in Wexford town could not help but be distracted by some of the green referendum ballot papers being sorted in piles beside the white ones used in the presidential election. Most of the green slips were correctly filled out. But the tallymen noticed a surprisingly high number of spoilt votes, telling of an electorate confused by what it viewed as a hush-hush referendum on Cabinet confidentiality.
A significant number of people who had gone out in the rain to vote in the presidential election were clearly unable or unwilling to participate in the referendum.
The boxes had been left blank on some ballot papers. Other voters illustrated their frustration with oversized Xs etched angrily across the papers. Some simply decorated the slip with question marks.
But the most angry voters had taken the time to write their complaints across their papers.
Typical of these were: "This was not explained by the government"; "What is this?"; and "I don't understand."
But there was humour in the objections. One Wexford wag had replied to the question on Cabinet confidentiality with a single word that even the most confused citizen could understand: "Dustin".