A woman dressed as celery was ejected from a polling station in Kilgarvan early this morning as she attempted to accompany the TD Danny Healy Rae in to vote in his home village.
The woman in her 40s accompanied by a man had been waiting outside the primary school in the village before the station opened at 7am. Around 50 Healy Rae supporters had also arrived.
She brandished a sign outside Kilgarvan Central School saying: 'Climate change is real, it's an emergency, and we can all fight it by going vegan.'
First into vote was county councillor Johnny Healy Rae, followed by his father, TD Danny and TD Michael.
The presiding officer handled the situation well, county registrar Padraig Burke said. Gardaí were at the scene.
It appears the pair of protestors are vegan and involved in anti-meat eating campaigns.
Speaking afterwards Johnny Healy Rae said: “I have no meas on celery- there’s no meat in it.”
Mr Burke said gardaí had identified the protestors and were on the alert.
Meanwhile a polling station in Co Carlow was moved to a pub following a power outage.
The polling station at Kildavin National School, which had just one booth, was relocated to Conway’s pub, in the village.
And there was excitement at a polling station in Dublin after a man’s wedding ring was rescued from a ballot box.
Senator Kevin Humphreys tweeted the tale of how the ring slipped off as the man cast his vote.
🚨Things in ballot boxes update🚨
— Kevin Humphreys (@KHumphreysDBS) February 8, 2020
Someone has dropped their driving licence in with their ballot in Harold’s Cross. No such luck fishing it out this time so they’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get it back #GE2020 #DBS
Turnout 30% at 2:00pm https://t.co/9aeySvNIHt
He described a scene of “rapturous applause” when the ring was fished out of the box using the aerial from the returning officer’s car.