Minister John Gormley's public consultation process on the use of posters in elections and referenda has been labeled "a public relations exercise" by Labour's Cllr Keith Martin.
This week the Green Party Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has invited comments from interested parties on the control of postering for elections and referenda.
But according to the Westport councillor "the use of a political poster during an election or referendum campaign is a matter of freedom of speech and any attempt to curb the already restricted use of political postering would be an attack on democracy.
"The idea of limiting the number of posters to a candidate is ridiculous as it does not take into account geography or situation. For example in Mayo we have electoral wards bigger than county Louth, we have 4 seater and 7 seater areas of all sorts of different sizes. This sounds like a Dublin 4 ideal which does not work when it is taken out of Dublin 4.
"I have no problem with using biodegradable poster materials or requiring recycling of posters or maximum sizes of posters and I would welcome local authorities in exercising their already sufficient existing powers in relation to posters and cable ties.
"I think the situation as it stands is a close to ideal and would like to stress that the right of politicians to poster is a historical and democratic right as well as an expression of freedom of speech and thought and any attempts to reign it in will be opposed vigorously by those of use who put our names on the ballot paper and our faces on posters in an effort to make a change for the better in our local area.
"I think Minister Gormely is using the issues of posters as an exercise in public relations among those people in his own constituency who think of political posters as 'litter' rather than as a freedom of expression of thoughts and ideas" concluded Cllr Martin.
5 comments:
Attack on democracy! You should go to America and join the Republicans.
Up to a few years ago you had to pay a deposit to run in elections, thankfully this was struck out by the courts.
However, the requirment to spend thousands of euros on posters acts as a similar barrier to entering into politics. Unless you can splash the cash, you don't stand a chance of getting elected.
Why a Labour Cllr is supporting such a democractic barrier is beyond me.
I have to laugh at your 'D4' remark - nice bit of rural populism there. However, there is a full consultation period and any measures brought in will presumably take in to account different regions of the country.
There is no requirement to spend thousands on posters. Posters are optional.
I have never spent anything near that on posters.
Postering is a freedom of expression and ideas.
As for the D4 remark. I will be running in an electoral area many times great in size that D4 yet the proposal is that I would have the same number of posters as the D4 candidate.
The whole thing is complete rubbish.
What proposals? There are no proposals as present. The consultation process outlined by Minister Gormley - link below, in case you haven't read them - contains suggestions to encourage debate. At present, there are no stated proposals from the Minister. You are putting forward standard straw man arguments - attacking something that doesn't actually exist.
Regarding the requirement to spend: you ran for Westport Town Council, not an actual County or City Council election. If you did, you would realise that you need at least 200 posters which will cost over €2,000
Optional? Yes, like canvassing or Press Releases are optional. But while theoretically they are optional, in reality a candidate MUST erect them and so it forced expenditure on them. And unlike canvassing or media work, postering contributed nothing to political discussion. No one is informed of a candidates policies by them.
http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/PublicConsultation-ControlofPostering/
Well I dont know how much you pay for posters up in Dublin but I have 300 for half what you paid!
Of course people are informed of policies by postering? Where you in the country for the Lisbon Referendum? Did you see the various posters citing reasons for and against?
I am afraid you don't know enough about real local politics.
The idea of altering the current postering rules won't happen. FF wont let it happen and it will be opposed by all the other parties.
The "consultation" is in fact a PR stunt to impress Gormley's consituents.
Its a complete load of rubbish. Now I will put that up on a poster any day.
All the best!
Keith
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