Hard as I searched in the City Hall members’ room, I couldn’t find the old hat rack on which I hung my flak jacket when last in the Dome of Delight.

Hard as I searched in the City Hall members’ room, I couldn’t find the old hat rack on which I hung my flak jacket when last in the Dome of Delight.Just as well then that I have come without the armour this time round.They put me in with the new boys and new girls on Wednesday for the induction, sort of like the tall, awkward guy who’s kept back in the rural primary school the year after his buddies have moved on… and the year after that, and the year after that…But the get-together did give me a chance to get to know the youngest councillor, the irrepressible Guy Spence, who was old enough, just, to vote for himself to represent the DUP in the Castle Ward. Also being put through their paces were the new SDLP face in the Lower Falls, Colin Keenan, and Mary Ellen Campbell who’s just taken a second seat for Sinn Féin in Castle. Straight swap there, with the SDLP veteran Cathal Mullaghan making way for the Sinn Féin woman in what was one of three SF gains in Belfast. But the ball dropped in the Lower Falls where Colin  Keenan got the nod from the electorate — good for him. So together, SF and the SDLP boast 24 out of 51 seats; not a bad day at the office.There’s been many a change since I left City Hall in 1997, not least the presence of several prominent artworks as Gaeilge – including a great painting outside the Chief Executive’s office with the legend ‘Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine’ (‘We all live in each other’s shelter’). That’s a great saying and is certainly up there with the official motto of Belfast, ‘Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus’ (‘For All We have Received, What Shall We Give in Return?’).But the greatest change is the inclusive atmosphere. At  my first meeting back in 1987, I was tossed out of the chamber for speaking Irish. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, but my departure back then coincided with a new peaceable era for the Council, with Sinn Féin being allocated chair and deputy chair committee positions –  something unthinkable back in the day – and the Mayoral hot seat.That powersharing model has become even more vigorous over time and at the end of this month, positions will be shared out among the parties under the D’Hondt model which allows the biggest party, Sinn Féin with 16 seats, the first dig at the Mayoral position and at committee positions.The DUP has been returned with 15 seats, quite an achievement, but the big losers were the Ulster Unionists who have just three seats. When I first entered Council, there were so many unionists they filled all the seats on one side of the chamber and spilt over on to the opposition benches. God be with the days.When Council meets at the end of this month to choose the Lord Mayor, the SF, Alliance and SDLP bloc will hold 30 seats, the unionists 21. A fascinating turnaround in fortunes from the days when between them those parties could muster only 15 votes or so!The task is to lead by inclusion; unionists should be at the heart of decision-making in Belfast in a way which underlines our determination to embed the peace, heal wounds and build Belfast. Last time round, I penned a memoir of City Hall, ‘Belfast’s Dome of Delight’ (which the razor-sharp Balmoral councillor Claire Hanna of the SDLP tells me she has just received from eBay), so I think a Dome Diary might be in order on this outing. First entry is to note that Tom Ekin, the Alliance Councillor, recorded possibly the biggest increase of any councillor while topping the poll in Balmoral. And that’s quite a boast because the Sinn Féin vote went up 45 per cent in the same electoral area thanks to my world-class canvass team and directorate. (And, yes, it was nice to come in over quota on the first count in an area where Sinn Féin has never held a Council seat previously.)I asked Tom why he hadn’t pushed on to hit 1800 votes – he reached 1780. “I stopped canvassing when I reached the quota,” said he.

Oops, I’ve been twittering but not blogging for a little while now…and I’ll now be switching from this site to a different site as Council member so this may be last dispatch.

All of which lets you know that yes, I was returned for the Balmoral area at last week’s Belfast City Council election.

Thanks to my excellent canvass team and first-class election management team, we increased the Sinn Féin vote by 45 per cent in Balmoral (up from 10.2 to 14.7) and came in over quota on the first count. That was an entry with more style than I dared to imagine.

The Sinn Féin election machine in full throttle is a thing of wonder; it’s a pleasure to have been allowed to fly the party flag in South Belfast and a credit to Alex Maskey and his team that he brought himself back to the Assembly, had Deirdre Hargey elected as councillor (in her first poll) over quota for the Laganbank area of South Belfast and made a breakthrough in having Niall O Donnghaile, a great young Gaeilgeoir, elected in Pottinger, Short Strand.

You can see the full Balmoral result here.

Fuair mé cuidiú ó chuid mhór, mhór daoine le linn an fheachtais, go raibh míle maith agaibh uilig.

I was envious of the work-life balance of those with more sense and talent than me as I took to the road for a jog this morning through Balmoral.

First up was Des Lamph, owner of McDonald’s in West Belfast, who was walking a pair of 12-year-old griffons (sort of a cultured man’s Jack Russells). He’s just back from Getaria in the Basque Country where he and some pals were sampling the txakoli — an Atlantic wine with just a tinge of bitterness but if poured from a height to help the oxidisation process (as pictured) is a spectacular light wine. It grows in the breathtakingly beautiful coastal area between Bilbo and Donostia (Bilbao and San Sebastian).

A few miles on and I met and paused to congratulate Conall McDevitt of the SDLP who was also out for a morning jog. He attracted transfers from all over at the death in the South Belfast count which is always a sign of a politician who has been working beyond his base.

The towpath was as magnificent as ever and I spotted a new clutch of ducklings near the Stranmillis pier as they played under the watchful eye of their parents. Sorry, didn’t bring the camera. Finally, as I finished off my run I spied Tom Ekin, Alliance Party candidate in Balmoral, who for all the world looked like a man who had just been worshipping. Turns out he was too — at the church of golf. Tom, an Alliance Party veteran, looks good for a seat in Balmoral which is no surprise given his consistent record of work for the constituency. He attended the tallies on Friday morning but adjusted his work-life balance subsequently to take in the Crucible at the Lyric and a flick in Comber last night so I had to give him the news that Ruth Patterson of the DUP failed to take the last seat in Balmoral — despite the fact that she had given a BBC interview predicting her election. I can’t say he was heartbroken.

The Council counts get underway tomorrow but my count in Balmoral begins on Tuesday with results expected in the early afternoon. I hope to have my posters down before then!

I travel in hope.

By my reckoning it’s 50 days and counting since we committed to going out on the stump every night rustling up votes. Our Lord only did 40 days so we must get marks for effort but what the electorate make of it all, that’s another matter.

Tomorrow will tell its tale.

What I do know is that candidates and canvassers get a unique insight into the lives of the populace. What other job allows you to stand on the doorstep chatting about the subject of the day? And, contrary to public opinion, punters tell canvassers the truth at the doors. They can’t do otherwise because their body language speaks for them.

One door still holding the door half-over is the signal that they really don’t want you at the door at all. A stiffening of the body means they’re pondering whether to go on the attack or just stare you down. And the lack of a ‘yes’, ‘hello’, ‘good evening’ or ‘hiya’ in response to our opening salutation is a sure sign that there’s no Proclamation on the scullery wall.

On the other hand, if the person steps right out onto the doorstep or throws the door fully ajar, then you’re in like Flynn. If they smile, you are close to a quota and if they swap a greeting, you’re as good as in your council pew.

True, some will refuse to take the literature but they’re a minority. Many unionists will chew the cud, if only to make sure you don’t think  you’re being snubbed because of your party affiliation. In fact, the variety, the richness, the length and the buzz of the conversations at the doors tell you more about how peace is taking hold in Belfast than a hundred polls.

It’s a privilege to serve of course — I have been blessed once already by representing the people of Belfast in City Hall. But it’s privilege also to be allowed to rap the door and put your case. “We’re voting nationalist but everything else is up for grabs,” said one Maryville Avenue resident before grilling us on tuition fees (he was in favour!). We held our own. “If truth be told, I’m a little afraid to vote Sinn Féin,” said a sympathetic lady in Myrtlefield Park, as we enjoyed a long and frank chat about where we are and where we’ve been.

It has been fascinating and fun but it’ll be nice too to see the clock strike ten bells tomorrow night.

Best wishes to all the candidates and thanks to the best canvassers and most amazing election directorate I’ve ever experienced. Now as Kevin McKiernan from Santa Barbara advised this morning by email, “take it easy…but take it”.

I enjoyed this piece from Chicago Crain’s Business magazine about Seven over Seventy which includes our old pal Andy McKenna, global chairman of McDonald’s and Schwarz paper company.
We enjoy our own 40 under 40 but we haven’t tried yet to have a seven over seventy. There’s always tomorrow.

If truth be told there are large swathes of the Balmoral constituency I won’t get round before polling day.
That’s not laziness, I’ve been out with the best canvassers in Belfast every day for the past month and more. In that time, I’ve seen young Cllr Niall Kelly out on the doorsteps and I’ve clocked Mark Finlay. I’m sure others are out and about as this is a mammoth constituency but if so, I haven’t seen them.
The experts say if you actually talk to someone on the doorstep, you increase by 13 per cent (not 11 or 12 or even 14, mind you, but 13 per cent) the chances of them voting for you.
But despite my best efforts I haven’t laid a foot in Malone Meadows or the entire Windsor Ward — which includes Ashely Avenue where Strategem chief Quintin Oliver resides — and he’s quite rightly holding out the prospect of a transfer to those who actually hit his door rapper.
I’ve also streered clear of the strong loyalist estates in the Village, Taughmonagh and Finaghy – though Alex Maskey has worked diligently in those areas, especially the Villlage, over recent years and it’ll be interesting to see if that translates into votes or preferences.
That’s not to say we haven’t been at unionist doors, we have but mainly middle-class doors.
My biggest nod to cross-community campaigning has been to explore the entire constituency a pied — usually by running through it in the early morning (which is when I took this photograph of this beautiful building in Ashley Avenue which has been turned into apartments). It speaks of a time when this is where the gentry of Belfast lived; close to the city core, in the shadow of the university.
Things have changed since then for the Village.

One thing’s for sure, it wouldn’t do to be engaged in anything untoward on the Lisburn Road these days.
No sooner had we set up shop for our postering of the road this morning — using Mark Finlay’s flagship office as the meeting point (after all, it’s now one of the easily-recognised landmarks in all of South Belfast), than the great man himself was there to chide us for our late start. (Note, it was 9am.).
Mark kindly shifted his car to allow us to park in and get started.
By the time we reached the Arizona coffee shop, open and bustling, Deric Henderson from the Press Association was on hand to make sure we were on our toes.
Too much attention, I thought so I switched to the other side of the road only to be hailed by Conall McDevitt, out bright and early on his bike, and ready for the next ten days of electoral fun.
When a Council refuse lorry pulled up, I presumed we were in for a ticking off for littering but turns out it was Rob Robinson, whose brother was a paramilitary shot dead by the British Army, who was stopping to bring me up to date with his cross-community and reconciliation work.
Last time I met Rob, he was with a group from the Shankill in the Cultúrlann and he tells me he’s just back from Drogheda where they had another excellent engagement.
The times they are a-changin’ — certainly the fact that Alex Maskey got the loudest and longest applause from a working class unionist audience at a Village hustings last week sends out that signal.
But there’s another development which pleases me: there has been warm support on the doorsteps for our engagement with loyalism across South Belfast. My hope is that these trust-building encounters will build the grassroots peace process in the area and help us enjoy a summer where flags — from any side — do not become a permanent summer feature.

The Lisburn Road traders gave the best response to the recessionary gloom and doom today with a great fun fair along the road.
Stilt-walkers, face-painters, singers and clowns all helped to make it the perfect Easter Saturday. And of course Murphy’s Butchers had the barbecue sizzling from noon.
I had a full team out to distribute leaflets along the road — it’s been three months and more since I first chatted to the Lisburn Road traders about grabbing a slice of a £25k underspend to boost local busineses; the fruits of that conversation were seen today, courtesy of political unity behind the grant proposal.
It’s always a good idea to have Alex Maskey with you on a canvass of South Belfast; I’m told he turned in the star performance at the Village hustings this week when the solidly unionist audience gave me the loudest and longest applause of the night and turned on their ‘own’ politicians (one of whom broke down sobbing).
Of course, half the town knows Alex and those who don’t know him know his family so we had a conversation a minute as we tramped up the road.
The Lisburn Road Business Association get full marks for making this fun day a great success…roll on the repeat performance next Saturday.

Bhí áthas orm feiceáil go bhfuil Dónal Lunney anois ag tacú leis An Droichead i ndeisceart na cathrach.
Full marks to Dónal Lunney for signing on as Patron of An Droichead in South Belfast. You can see the South Belfast News report here.
And the same paper has harsh words for Minister Michael McGimpsey for axing music therapy services to special needs schools.
And as the amazing Lyric Theatre prepares to open this weekend, it’s great to see that the legendary Frankie McCafferty (pictured) will be appearing in the first production.

Meanwhile, with Easter interrupting, we’re really moving into the home stretch for the May 5 election — a fortnight from today — and I think we can honestly say there is something stirring out there. On several occasions, voters have told us they are going to move to Sinn Féin in the coming poll. Will enough of them make the switch, or agree to transfer, to make the difference? I’ll let you know six days after the poll as the actual count for the Balmoral Ward doesn’t take place until Tuesday 10 May (there is a little thing called the Assembly election count taking precedence).

There’s been a lot of blogging here in recent days on many subjects other than the crucial one for me: the May 5 council election.
But don’t think we’ve been slacking. Our team has been out every evening and several times over the weekend. We may break for Easter Sunday to test our leg muscles at the Easter Rising parades but I’m hoping to sneak in a short canvass on Good Friday evening and to spend part of Saturday on the Lisburn Road.
However, the key to winning the Balmoral seat is to convince the youngsters of South Belfast that they should plump for Sinn Féin.
The last council election was in 2005 so for any young person under 24, this is their first time to leave a mark on the political landscape of City Hall.
That’s why I was delighted to meet this evening on the Lisburn Road with a group of dynamic, go-ahead young people who are coming on board for the final fortnight of our electoral push.
There’s been a quiet revolution going on in South Belfast over recent years, led by young people who have turned the area into an inclusive and vibrant area where all identities are respected and celebrated.
These young people, not surprisingly, are often deeply involved in Gaelic games, itself enjoying a remarkable renaissance in South Belfast. They want to see Sinn Féin take its first Council seat in Balmoral, increasing the number of nationalists in the area from two to three — one half the total — and as young professionals or entrepreneurs they believe someone who is in the job creation game can help boost under-pressure businesses in the south of the city. They now hold the key to this Balmoral breakthrough.

Over recent days, our team has been canvassing the mixed area stretching from Balmoral Avenue to Malone Hill Park and getting a courteous reception from all houses, with an interesting number of householders telling us they are going to shift from the SDLP to Sinn Féin.
I put that down in particular to the dramatic effect on the public by deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. One unionist householder described Minister McGuinness as “a revelation”.
Hopefully, our campaign can scale those same heights on 5 May.

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