In the middle of the count centre in Delgany, Co Wicklow, one of Donnelly’s team leaned over a steel rail watching the tally.
A simple question as to how he was feeling was abruptly shut down. The message was clear: there was still only a small number of boxes opened (40pc in Wicklow and they were already showing Donnelly was in trouble) and he was adamant it would be unfair to make a comment at this early stage.
Simon Harris – The Irish people have spoken, now we need to figure out what they said
There was no such problem for Team Harris, who was polling well from early morning and ended up in number one position with a surplus of almost 6,000 votes.
From 9am the Taoiseach’s brother, Adam, had been following the count and calling the votes out to his older sister, Gemma, who was scribbling furiously on her clip board.
The siblings were inconspicuous among the political anoraks, but no one had a better insight into the Taoiseach following the fallout from Kanturk.
“That Saturday morning was difficult for everybody,” Ms Harris said of the video that was viewed over 3.4 million times and made the New York Times.
As a family, she said, “we rallied around Simon as best we could. We just told him that he’s got this and he is going to be OK”.
‘I’m under no obligation to give you a quote,’ a female team member said
It was difficult for their mum. “At the end of the day it’s her child. She just had to stay offline and not read the negativity because if you’re a mother it’s not easy to hear.”
“You don’t like anyone in your family being slated, especially for something he is so passionate about,” Ms Harris said. “Simon wouldn’t be in the job he is in today if it hadn’t been for disability issues, so it was tough to watch. But then that’s politics. People are waiting for you to trip yourself up, but he has recovered so well today.”
She believes this was her brother’s most difficult election, given he is Taoiseach and social media has made politics tougher for those involved. “When there are so many voices and opinions and keyboard warriors, at the end of the day everyone is human. We’ve all had a bad day or moment. We’ve all done things that we wished we’d done differently, so for 60 seconds to be analysed the way that it was difficult,” she said.
By lunchtime, several more of Donnelly’s team had arrived. He was now in fourth place and was in with a fighting chance.
But the tension on his team hadn’t eased. “I’m under no obligation to give you a quote,” a female team member said when asked how she felt the day was unfolding.
A younger Fianna Fáil member, though, explained their angst: “Look, politics is cut-throat. One minute you’re a minister, the next you’re out of a job. People forget there are livelihoods at stake.” Another political watcher reasoned that Donnelly’s squad was also irritated because so many of the media pack had already written off the minister. “They were warned to be careful who they talk to.”
By 2.30pm, 100pc of the boxes had been tallied and Simon Harris had 30.4pc of the vote, followed by Sinn Féin’s John Brady with 14.6pc. Social Democrats Jennifer Whitmore had 13.4pc, and there was a dogfight for the final seat. The constituency has gone from a five to a four-seater and Donnelly stood at 6.3pc .
It’s looking very positive. I can’t wait for it to be finalised so I can take a big deep breath
Paul McKnight, a member of Donnelly’s campaign team since 2011, said: “The best way to put it is that it’s disappointing.” There was a lot of anger in the local area that Donnelly had jumped ship from the Social Democrats “and bit of that feeling never went away”.
But as the day wore on, there was hope he would hang on and just before 4pm a spokesperson for Donnelly was ready to give his take: “The fourth seat still can’t be called. We are only starting to see transfer patterns now so it’s still all to play for. We simply don’t know where Simon’s transfers are going to go. They’re literally happening on the table as we speak.”
The spokesperson had been in touch with Donnelly “briefly” and was adamant the minister was feeling “relaxed”.
Would he make an appearance at the count regardless of the outcome? “Of course!”
Sinn Féin’s John Brady meanwhile was polling in second place after a very strong campaign.
“We’re going from a constituency that had three outgoing government TDs and now it could well be the case that they actually only get back with one, which is a serious, serious hit on the Government.”
The Soc Dems’ Whitmore was also on track to secure victory. “It’s looking very positive. I can’t wait for it to be finalised so I can take a big deep breath,” she said.
Taking a moment for Donnelly, she said: “It is really tough and just on a human level to wake up one morning to have a job [and then maybe not] is really hard. In saying that, we still don’t know who is going to get that last seat. Things could always turn around.”
No matter the outcome, she said, “it’s so public and long — it’s the most difficult interview anyone could do.”