Possible ban on posters for next years local elections (Moved from Galway forum)

sgthighway

Campaign posters in the city and Salthill area may be banned during next years elections.
Local businessman Neil McNelis came up with the idea after the Government called for submissions on the control of postering for elections.
The ban on election posters during next year's election would coincide with the Galway leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.
It's expected that a high number of tourists will be in the city for the event as well as a large volume of national and international media.

john concannon

No

Some people only vote for peoples posters that they like.Thats really stupid and they should be made vote for parties they really support.Ban should be instated.

TheInvisibleFie

Keep the posters. Just ensure that they are taken down properly. They're an option for candidates who are running with a limited budget but who can't afford pretty pictures in every edition of the local papers for weeks before the election.

galwayrush

No

Ahh, excellent proposal, ban them for ever more, they really make the place ugly with them hanging from every pole .

oneofakind32

Without posters a lot of people wouldn't even know there's an election on. I still think it's a good idea not to have campaign posters up when there are so many tourists around but it shouldn't be a permanent measure.

brianthebard

No

Great idea,next step national ban!

Robbo

No

oneofakind32 wrote: »

Without posters a lot of people wouldn't even know there's an election on. I still think it's a good idea not to have campaign posters up when there are so many tourists around but it shouldn't be a permanent measure.

If you're that switched off politically, you don't deserve a vote.

Madame Razz

good, Ihope this ban is successful....then I won't have to look at all their smarmy faces.....

Winner alright winner alright!!!!!!(sorry, i spent too long in Ballybrit last week)

I don't need a pretty(not so much) poster to tell me what way to vote thank you very much....:rolleyes:

dcukhunter

No

They should be banned everywhere they just make a mess of the place and is a massive waste of funding. I dont know anyone that would change their minds just because of a poster.

oneofakind32

Robbo wrote: »

If you're that switched off politically, you don't deserve a vote.

Who are you and I to decide who dose or dose not deserve a vote? I would think there would be a lower turn out if there was a ban on posters. It is a local election and not everyone listens to Galway Bay fm

Robbo

No

oneofakind32 wrote: »

Who are you and I to decide who dose or dose not deserve a vote? I would think there would be a lower turn out if there was a ban on posters. It is a local election and not everyone listens to Galway Bay fm

It's quite simple really, if you solely rely on election posters to be aware of the election and the candidates, you're hardly likely to be reaching an informed decision.

workaccount

No

oneofakind32 wrote: »

Who are you and I to decide who dose or dose not deserve a vote? I would think there would be a lower turn out if there was a ban on posters. It is a local election and not everyone listens to Galway Bay fm

We need a country where people can make informed decisions not vote based on what the person looks like or who has the nicest poster design.

Maybe it would be ok actually to have posters that inform people of an election (just not millions of them) and then if they want and care can take the trouble to look into the issues and parties involved themselves.

Anyone know if other countries allow loads of posters like that?

po0k

No

No posters.
Mandatory voting.
Civilization IV to be a Leaving Cert subject.

JohnCleary

Are those posters any good in a bonfire?

DRakE

I vote for the best looking candidate.
I vote for more signs.

Telling me I cant have a vote makes you a ****.

Chris_533976

No

Best idea in ages.

During the Ocean Race can you imagine every Salthill lamppost being full of this ****? No thanks.

forestfruits

Great idea-- majority of the things arent even printed in the republic as in most are printed in the north - thereby not supporting local business and pumping money elsewhere!

also they are just annoying

nuac

No

Always thought posters a waste of time and money. Some candidates and their supporters want to see their image on every pole. Postering is a survival from the days when print media of elections was not too exciting, and when there was no TV coverage.

With the advent of the web, information on who is running and why is readily available.

Some communities have asked political parties not to poster particular areas. E.g in recent elections Westport, a town which has won a number of Tidy Town Competitions, has persuaded the main parties not to put up posters in the town.

ninty9er

No

From a political point of view, it would have to be a complete ban or the current free-for-all.

There's no room for an in between or temporary approach to this.

For the poster who raised cost of a campiagn as a reason for keeping them.....they're not exactly cheap!!

Overheal

No

im instantly reminded of one of our school teachers that ran for local office in Clare - bunch o lads took down a couple posters and arranged them in his classroom

More importantly how about a ban on those fupping annoying cars that go around spoutng propoganda from hood-mounted megaphones?

partholon

man the establisment loses a referendum and suddenly theres all this talk about banning posters.

of course in no way whatsovever would this be extended to a lisbon two campaign should it happen.

this is whats called "a precedent" boys and girls. watch and see what happens if its instituted.

ninty9er

No

partholon wrote: »

man the establisment loses a referendum and suddenly theres all this talk about banning posters.

of course in no way whatsovever would this be extended to a lisbon two campaign should it happen.

this is whats called "a precedent" boys and girls. watch and see what happens if its instituted.

This was mooted as far back as 1997, nothing to do with a recent referendum.

Some people:mad:

SeanW

Robbo wrote: »

If you're that switched off politically, you don't deserve a vote.

QFT!!!

oscarBravo

Polite note: thread is in Politics now; Politics rules apply.

turgon

Such a move would punish the Greens most severely in my opinion. Because they dont have the resources to go door to door, or deliver personalized leaflets, their public awareness might be reduced.

Overheal

No

What if boards (dangerous water but ill go) hosted a forum for each party, where regular posters could pose questions to the politicians, and they could reply?

turgon

Overheal wrote: »

What if boards (dangerous water but ill go) hosted a forum for each party, where regular posters could pose questions to the politicians, and they could reply?

Well I suppose if you set it up for the next elections. I would be willing to help on this. Write letters and stuff.

Liam Byrne

Damn! Missed the vote, but would definitely have been a "yes".

How some idiot who hasn't been seen for years because they haven't done a tap thinks that having their mug on 40 million ESB poles littering the countryside will influence people is beyond me!

If they're in the news as having done something/delivered on promises, then I'll remember them.

Remember too, those posters are a waste of what would otherwise be spent elsewhere.....whether they're "Government" funds (i.e. our tax money) "party" funds (loads of news during the week of TDs claiming 50-odd grand expenses!) or corporate donations (indirectly reclaimed back from us through higher prices) they're pointless and they cost us money!

eoin5

Because some people decided to use the Lisbon treaty to sell their faces I say no more mugshots on campaign posters!

gurramok

Posters have no relevance to forming my opinion are are wasteful. Just look at the recent No vote, the majority of posters were for the Yes side yet they still lost.

Anyway, i'm all for the environment and saving trees so lets ban street posters for elections

SeanW

It's worse, those things are usually made of a plasticey polyester board kind of material.

turgon

SeanW wrote: »

It's worse, those things are usually made of a plasticey polyester board kind of material.

That cant be recycled as far as I know.

nuac

No

In recent elections Westport Tidy Town COmmittee obtained a voluntary agreement from political parties to refrain from postering in the town.

ressem

Overheal wrote: »

What if boards (dangerous water but ill go) hosted a forum for each party, where regular posters could pose questions to the politicians, and they could reply?

I'm not sure that Boardsies could even agree under which Category Forum to place these (Games\Fantasy Sports Arena\The Dail?), but I'm fairly sure that this would become a task for some social media handler in each firm.

It'd be nice for a politics subforum to actually have a deadline for submissions and goal for each thread to result in getting a written question asked of a minister by a TD, at which point we're guaranteed a written response after a few weeks.
If a couple of TDs from each grouping participated, then it might moderate the party political cross-sniping.

A thread template like:

Target: To be asked by SF representative.
Topic: Upcoming Health charge legislation.
Minister: Probably James O'Reilly
Deadline for debate/submissions: September 21st.  

But the option would be there for other TDs to try and 'borrow' the question, phrased to match their own stance.

Of course there would be joke / sham submissions, but what's new in that?

Yes, these questions can be asked by individuals and lobbies as it stands and most of us never read the answer from the oireachtas site, but getting a more varied set of opinions creating the submission might improve the quality of questioning.

Overheal

No

DeVore since I posed that question or perhaps even since before has considered the use of the website for hosting political discussion, with civil servants as participants. Probably not as far fetched as when I asked about it either. Would be a nice step forward for the place - or its impending apocalypse.