cable ties

subway

anyone know who looks after collecting the cable ties that are being dropped all over the place by the companies tsaking down these election posters?

i counted at least 60 along one stretch of road, also a massive pile building up from the wind.

theres obviously no way to identify who dumped them and the coco will "probably" pick them up, but is there some way to highlight thios littering with the politicians doing it?

Chakar

How about all the candidates from the parties in any specific constituency?

There were a few Independent posters anyway.

cast_iron

You can give out about it, but that's about it. Unless they are caught in the act, there's little that can be done.

dulpit

Ya i've noticed a load around the place too, thought that it might have been a local thing but apparently not... lousy politicians not tidying up after themselves:mad: :mad:

gandalf

Around our area the cable ties are still up on the lamp posts. TBH I think the greens idea of a limited number of posters per candidate makes sense.

Pal

the first party that comes out with a ban on posters gets my vote

Victor

I suspect different parties used different types / colours of ties.

cast_iron

Victor wrote:

I suspect different parties used different types / colours of ties.

I wouldn't bank on it.

White and black seem to be the only ones (I've noticed) used. All a (or of) standard length, available very easily to all electrical contractors and others.

nodger

subway wrote:

theres obviously no way to identify who dumped them and the coco will "probably" pick them up, but is there some way to highlight thios littering with the politicians doing it?

I sent an email to every one of the the Dublin West candidates this morning. So far, I've had responses from Brian Lenihan (FF), Felix Gallagher (SF) and Roderic O'Gorman (GP)

The cable-ties were to be removed, along with the posters, and brought to the Coolmine Recycling Centre. Felix Gallagher assured me that he had been out removing the items himself, and that I should report any Sinn Féin representatives that I see leaving the cable-ties on poles, or on the ground. Roderic O'Gorman has also been tidying up after himself, and has also been picking up cable-ties left behind by other folks (fair play!). Brian Lenihan's representative said that there are personnel in the consituency performing the cleanup job, and that it should be completed by Thursday evening. I asked whether there was a plan to deal with residual cable-ties, but have yet to receive a response to the question.

My understanding of the situation is that all candidates are legally obliged to ensure that all posters are removed by Thusrday evening. I'd recommend that you get in touch with all of your local candidates to express your wish for the job to be fully completed.

AidoCQS

First we had to be legislated into taking down the posters, why that was necessary - I dont know, the people who's pictures were on them should have been simply embarrased into it....it should have gone without even saying.

Now we have to be legislated into this... do people have any cop on, we live like we are renting this country.

murphaph

nodger wrote:

Felix Gallagher assured me that he had been out removing the items himself, and that I should report any Sinn Féin representatives that I see leaving the cable-ties on poles, or on the ground.

:eek: Maybe Felix thinks cable ties can be reused for 'other' purposes

Victor Meldrew

Pal wrote:

the first party that comes out with a ban on posters gets my vote

Did the greens not try that once and no-one knew who was standing so they went back to posters?

cornbb

Was in France a few weeks ago during their presidential election campaign, legally the candidates could only put their posters up on designated plywood hoardings at certain locations. Sounds like a well clever idea to me. In Galway those posters were an awful eyesore in normally scenic areas like the Spanish Arch and the Salthill prom.

Heinrich

cornbb wrote:

Was in France a few weeks ago during their presidential election campaign, legally the candidates could only put their posters up on designated plywood hoardings at certain locations. Sounds like a well clever idea to me. In Galway those posters were an awful eyesore in normally scenic areas like the Spanish Arch and the Salthill prom.

This is the Swiss model. Canvassing is done at the shopping center or outside the church or where people might pass by. The electors are usually well enough informed on political issues.

egan007

They Have a color for each party....
i.e Green FF Blue FG etc....
So each party should have to use a color coded Cable tie and be fined 5Euro for each one left behind.

redspider

Cable Ties ..... hmmmmm

I asked about this back in, wait for it, 1997! The problem is the politicians are just too lazy to even get their own actions in order, never mind that of the country and the public services at large! Even an issue as trivial and as minor as Cable Ties cant be handled properly. Little wonder that the Health dept and services are in a mess. Of course the posters are a mess and an eyesore, yet the politicians do nothing to get it into something that is generally pleasing and acceptable. Common sense they have little. Quality of Life they care not. Scruples, pull the other one.

I raised the cable ties issue with a local Green candidate in 1997. Not even a response. Mind you, the same candidate was quick enough to spam my email address with an 'invite to a function' that he wanted supporters to attend soon after. Ironic that.

I re-raised it again after 2002. After a few resends I got a response saying that none of his posters left ties behind (even though I could see some) and that he would raise the issue with others. Needless to say, no feedback.

I can see electric poles out my home door with ties from 1997, 2002 and now the latest batch from 2007. They do eventually fall off. Likewise, Uranium 205 has a half-life, as does polonium, every Russian agent knows that!

If the Green Party cant even get this right, there is no hope for the others. We will be looking at the ties for the next years. I wonder do birds chike on them.

I despaired in 1997 and 2002, and join the despairers now. If you want something done that makes sense, Ireland is not the place for that - I wonder can the OECD measure that in some index - I wish!

Redspider

johnlambe

Pal wrote:

the first party that comes out with a ban on posters gets my vote

The Green Party has a policy (and has had for longer than I can remember) that the number of posters allowed per party should be very limited, and prefereably, they should only be allowed in designated hoardings, as is done in other countries. It's just that we haven't been in power to implement such a ban and the parties that were in government don't seem to agree with it.

Our thinking is that posters don't contribute much to a campaign anyway - why would you vote for someone just because he/she has his/her poster all over your area? (It might make more sense to not vote for people who disimprove the visual appearance of your neigbourhood ).

The Green Party place posters (but generally much fewer than most parties) because we think that we would be at a disadvantage if we were the only party not to have them.

Some parties obviously believe that they are effective. One Fianna Fáil candidate placed a poster less than 50 metres from a polling station, just before polling, using a space vacated when our candidate took down his posters. (It is illegal to have a poster within 100m of a polling station during voting - a law that seems to be rarely enforced, and anyway the fine is insignificant compared to what Fianna Fáil spend on an election campaign).

I once heard an urban myth (Well, I'd believe it) about a green candidate somewhere (not necessarily Ireland) who wrote his manifesto an a peice of paper (I suppose a small number of copies) and gave it to voters, asking them to pass it on when they had read it. The story doesn't record whether he got elected.


Anyway, I and anyone I've worked with always remove the ties (sometimes with difficulty when one gets caught in another high poster) and we would expect this of a Green Party candidate. (I occasionally pick up some other people's rubbish too).

RainyDay

johnlambe wrote:

The Green Party has a policy (and has had for longer than I can remember) that the number of posters allowed per party should be very limited, and prefereably, they should only be allowed in designated hoardings, as is done in other countries. It's just that we haven't been in power to implement such a ban and the parties that were in government don't seem to agree with it.

Isn't it a pity that Eamonn Ryan in Dublin South opted to hang his posters from the trees on the roundabout on Barton Rd East? Not great example for the Green one who really only wants posters on 'designated hoardings'?

redspider

johnlambe wrote:

The Green Party has a policy (and has had for longer than I can remember) that the number of posters allowed per party should be very limited, and prefereably, they should only be allowed in designated hoardings, as is done in other countries. It's just that we haven't been in power to implement such a ban ...
Our thinking is that posters don't contribute much to a campaign anyway - why would you vote for someone just because he/she has his/her poster all over your area?
The Green Party place posters (but generally much fewer than most parties) because we think that we would be at a disadvantage if we were the only party not to have them.

Unfortunately the Green Party has a poor record in this area. The party should be leading by example, not claiming that, "well, we dissaprove of so many posters, but because everyone else is doing it, we are going go do it too." Imagine if that approach was applied to pollution!

You dont have to be in power to unilaterally not put up any posters, and instead put up a hoarding (with space for other parties) in some places to encourage the way the Green Party wants it to happen. Posters is an 'issue' at every election, as they are in our faces, and no other entity in Ireland is allowed to put up so many posters in such a manner except politicians - one rule for the goose and one rule for the gander. If the Greens led by example they would probably in fact get more recognition in the media for doing so, etc, and who knows, maybe even more votes.

As I mentioned above, a Green Party TD (and there arent many) didnt even respond on the cable ties issue when asked/tasked about it many times over the years.

You live by the tie, you die by the tie ......

redspider

Judt

Well, we've managed to (largely) get them to take the posters down, but in a typical letter-of-the-law approach, the ties remain up. If you think about it, it's a lot easier to get a poster down than a tie, so they don't bother their foot.

Amusing that they can get the posters up inside a few hours of the election being called, but it takes weeks (if not months) to get a half-arsed job done of taking them down again.

johnlambe

redspider wrote:

Unfortunately the Green Party has a poor record in this area.

Well, is our record more poor or less poor than the other parties?

redspider wrote:

You dont have to be in power to unilaterally not put up any posters, and instead put up a hoarding (with space for other parties) in some places to encourage the way the Green Party wants it to happen.

Without corporate donations, we have less funds than other parties, yet, if I understand this suggestion correctly, we're expected to not only pay for placement of our posters while other parties place theirs for free (unless you're advocating illegally building hoardings on public ground), but to also pay for placement of some posters of our better-funded opponents.

And we have policies on many things other than election posters, if we're going to implement our policies while in opposition, maybe we should start by making donations to schools, from our own vast funds, to reduce class sizes.

RainyDay wrote:

Isn't it a pity that Eamonn Ryan in Dublin South opted to hang his posters from the trees on the roundabout on Barton Rd East?

How is putting a poster on a tree worse than putting one on a pole?

RainyDay

johnlambe wrote:

How is putting a poster on a tree worse than putting one on a pole?

I'd have thought it was fairly obvious that a tree is a living thing, and a pole is not. But if you're still confused, just ask Eamonn why he took down the tree posters after one of the tabloids pictured them.

jos28

Pal wrote:

the first party that comes out with a ban on posters gets my vote

I'll second that !

Dave!

RainyDay wrote:

I'd have thought it was fairly obvious that a tree is a living thing, and a pole is not. But if you're still confused, just ask Eamonn why he took down the tree posters after one of the tabloids pictured them.

Does it damage the tree?

brianthebard

It hurts their feelings.

RainyDay

DaveMcG wrote:

Does it damage the tree?

Yes, when you hang the poster from branches which are not really designed to take the weight of a poster.

Dave!

I would query why someone would be hanging a poster from a branch and not from the trunk..... I'll give you then benefit of the doubt though, there's alot of stupid people in the world, I'm sure one or two of them have hung posters from the branches.