Only one leaflet per house, not per person?

Freiheit

Hi I thought there was a new law where candidates were only allowed to mail one leaflet per household rather than person person?. Today four Labour candidate leaflets arrived, some for people no longer resident here even. Wish they didn't litter my premises in this way. Anyway is this not the law? and if so from when?..

Riskymove

Freiheit wrote: »

Today four Labour candidate leaflets arrived, some for people no longer resident here even.

they get the address from the voting register so perhaps the other people are still on it

Freiheit

Riskymove wrote: »

they get the address from the voting register so perhaps the other people are still on it

Is it not one per house regardless?

Annasopra

Freiheit wrote: »

Is it not one per house regardless?

No

Freiheit

I'm sure I heard it was a new law....

expectationlost

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/one-leaflet-per-household-rule-for-european-elections-624597.html

Candidates in the upcoming European elections will only be allowed drop one campaign leaflet per household.

The restrictions have been introduced by the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan in a bid to save €3.5m.

In the last European election, candidates were allowed to send a freepost leaflet to each individual in a household at the taxpayers' expense.

the groutch

They should have an amalgamated leaflet imo, with each candidate getting one or two pages.
For European elections it would be very straightforward with there only being 3 "constituencies".

rubadub

Freiheit wrote: »

I'm sure I heard it was a new law....

Still not clear if this is actual law, remember they are knowingly breaking the ESB warnings and putting public safety at risk. They are nearly all violating my local county council safety guidelines too. So don't expect them to follow some more far more benign rule like this.

I see fine gael have copied labours signs which mimicked compulsory road safety signs, red & white diamond shaped ones. FG's new ones are full yellow & black and diamond shaped, even closer looking to road signs. -They ban texting in cars yet purposely set out to distract motorists, hope they are done for manslaughter or worse if someone dies due to one of these signs.

kippy

the groutch wrote: »

They should have an amalgamated leaflet imo, with each candidate getting one or two pages.
For European elections it would be very straightforward with there only being 3 "constituencies".

Yep,
This is the way forward.

Scrap posters altogether, scrap any form of leaflet on an individualized basis.
Produce a booklet or flyer, giving a number of words per a predefined piece of space with accompanying photo to each candidate to include their website address contact information etc and drop one to every house for each type of election.
Have the candidates share the cost.

Saves a fortune in trees, binned rubbish, unsightly signs and makes sure that each household only gets one piece of literature for each election.

ryan101

kippy wrote: »

Yep,
This is the way forward.

Scrap posters altogether, scrap any form of leaflet on an individualized basis.
Produce a booklet or flyer, giving a number of words per a predefined piece of space with accompanying photo to each candidate to include their website address contact information etc and drop one to every house for each type of election.
Have the candidates share the cost.

Saves a fortune in trees, binned rubbish, unsightly signs and makes sure that each household only gets one piece of literature for each election.

Far too sensible for Ireland, never going to happen.
With that type of common sense, emigration is the only option for you, you're going to find yourself in the nut house, or very close to it, if you stay here.
And I'm serious.

kippy

ryan101 wrote: »

Far too sensible for Ireland, never going to happen.
With that type of common sense, emigration is the only option for you, you're going to find yourself in the nut house, or very close to it, if you stay here.
And I'm serious.

I dont disagree
There are a few other things that need to be sorted out as well.
I remember one of the last mistaken promises was electoral reform.
All that happened was a few country councils cut and a few TD's removed from the dail - no where near enough however.

But there are a lot more than that can be done to improve how elections are run/done.

1. The electoral register. A painful piece of nonsense. Completely all over the place, very difficult for people to change their electoral area at will and full of mistakes. Many people have multiple votes in different areas, incorrect addresses and seemingly people get dropped from it at random.
This needs to be centralised, and limited to ONE list not the multiples that are out there now. Link people to PPS numbers so multiple votes are a thing of the past and make if much easier for people to remove themselves from it (themselves) or change their voting area.
2. Move voting to a weekend. Sunday preferably. Makes it easier for students etc to vote, cuts out on a days loss for many schools etc.......

Two more improvements however neither actually suit the established parties so will never happen.

rubadub

kippy wrote: »

Saves a fortune in trees,

Also could save on taxpayers money. I believe candidates still receive money towards posters as long as they get above a certain low quote of votes. So this money could be reduced in future. And save taxpayer money on the cleanup since they are not obliged to use identifiable cable ties so many do not bother removing them, they could be fined for littering if there were identifiers.

kippy

rubadub wrote: »

Also could save on taxpayers money. I believe candidates still receive money towards posters as long as they get above a certain low quote of votes. So this money could be reduced in future. And save taxpayer money on the cleanup since they are not obliged to use identifiable cable ties so many do not bother removing them, they could be fined for littering if there were identifiers.

Ah yeah, thats obviously the biggest part of it.

expectationlost

rubadub wrote: »

Still not clear if this is actual law, remember they are knowingly breaking the ESB warnings and putting public safety at risk. They are nearly all violating my local county council safety guidelines too. So don't expect them to follow some more far more benign rule like this.

S.I. No. 95/2014 - Electoral Act 1997 (Commencement) Order 2014.


http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2014/en/si/0095.html
...
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0025/sec0078.html#sec78

The Act of 1992 is hereby amended by the substitution in section 57(1) of “household in the constituency” for “person on the register of Dáil electors for the constituency or to any combination of such persons,”.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1992/en/act/pub/0023/sec0057.html#sec57

rubadub

Freiheit wrote: »

Today four Labour candidate leaflets arrived, some for people no longer resident here even. Wish they didn't litter my premises in this way.

It seems they only get one free, but seems they could legally send as many as they wanted, as long as they are paying.


I contacted Dun Laoghaire Rathdown county council to see if their old guidelines were still in place. I got these new ones, not sure if there is any difference but they said these are issued to all parties -though the onus should be on the parties to find these things out, its crazy to thing they even need such sensible things pointed out to them.

REVISED GUIDELINES ON THE ERECTION AND REMOVAL OF ELECTION POSTERS:

1. Election posters should only be erected (a) not earlier than 30 days before the poll date or (b) from the date the Minister makes the order for the holding of the poll, whichever is the shorter period. The time limit for Referendum posters is not restricted to 30 days. These posters are allowed from the date the polling day order is signed. In this regard the effective date for the erection of posters is not before 12 midnight on Tuesday 22nd of April 2014.

2. In accordance with the Litter Pollution Act 1997 election posters and ties must be removed within 7 days after polling date. Failure to do so may result in prosecution. The associated fixing arrangement particularly plastic ties must be removed at the same time the poster is being removed.

3. No adhesive or metal fixings are permitted.

4. All posters should be manufactured from cardboard composites or other recyclable materials.

5. The Party or individual responsible for the poster must be clearly indicated on the poster.

6. Posters must not be erected as follows:

a. on lamp standards with overhead line electricity feed,

b. on traffic signal poles,

c. on bridge parapets, overpasses and on pedestrian bridges

d. on roundabouts

e. on roadside traffic barriers

f. on traffic poles or statutory signage of any type including stop, yield, cycletrack, parking control, etc.

g. on Motorways

h. must not obstruct the view of traffic lights or road signs,

i. must not block or obstruct motorists view of pedestrians, i.e. pedestrian barriers, or railings or motorists view of other traffic

7. There should be a minimum clearance of 2.5 metres (8ft) from the lower edge of any poster to ground level on footpaths and 3.2metres (10ft) on cycle lanes and no posters should be placed higher than 6.5 metres (20ft) from the ground.

8. A maximum of two posters per candidate is permitted on any lamp or standard pole.

9. Political parties/independent candidates are reminded that no claims for damages arising from placing, displaying or removal of their posters will lie with the Council and they may consider it appropriate to take out Public Liability Insurance in this regard

10. Where the Council incurs costs in the removal of posters these costs may be recovered.

Election posters that do not comply with these conditions or that are erected on Council property prior to the declaration of an election will be removed by the Council. In the event of a breach of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 – 2009, prosecutions may be initiated.

I would actually say the majority of posters are in breach of these. I do see one change, item 10 thankfully, hope they charge through the nose.

Blue Magic

Freiheit wrote: »

Hi I thought there was a new law where candidates were only allowed to mail one leaflet per household rather than person person?. Today four Labour candidate leaflets arrived, some for people no longer resident here even. Wish they didn't litter my premises in this way. Anyway is this not the law? and if so from when?..

I'll second this motion anyway.

Crazy amount of junk mail coming in. Have gotten 30+ slips of paper now in the door. Who's running the accounts for these campaigns like? Would save around 70-80% of cost with a one-leaflet per household policy...

Oh, and regarding, the local election I've been put in new constituency and we know none of the candidates (nobody asked us about this either)...

the groutch

I'm living on the borderline of 2 location election wards, and probably won't know which one I'm in til I get my ballot paper.

Greenmachine

The junction with St Mobil Rd and Griffith Avenue is an assault on the eyes. :mad:

Coillte_Bhoy

Re the leaflets, i'm a postman and it cetainly is not confined to one per household, some houses get 6 or 7 and also one address to the household, ie The Household, No 28 xyz St. Also many are simply address to the actual house and not personalised, how does that happen if it's all based on the register? ie

rubadub

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

The Household, No 28 xyz St. Also many are simply address to the actual house and not personalised, how does that happen if it's all based on the register? ie

I was saying earlier that it seems the law is to only get 1 freebie, they can still pay for as many as they want from their own money. If they look up the register they will get names and just send a general single free "the household" one.

Greenmachine wrote: »

The junction with St Mobil Rd and Griffith Avenue is an assault on the eyes. :mad:

I hold the person on the poster personally responsible for putting them up. They should personally be auditing them and enforcing the guidelines, and their own guidelines.

I have a new way of thinking about the posters.

When I see a poster up now I ask myself "if I was in the county council advising where to place things, and the space where election poster is was a permanent advertising area, then would I have placed that warning road sign or traffic light in that same position?". If the answer is no then you have a very serious problem, that politician is clearly showing that they have no respect for public safety, so what the hell will they be getting up to once in office.

Coillte_Bhoy

rubadub wrote: »

I was saying earlier that it seems the law is to only get 1 freebie, they can still pay for as many as they want from their own money. If they look up the register they will get names and just send a general single free "the household" one.

regardless of candidate ever day its the exact same amount of leaflets, same addresses etc and regarding the 'general' one whats odd is they dont cover every house, not by a long shot, eg in some estates whole swathes of houses are left out

Greenmachine

rubadub wrote: »

I was saying earlier that it seems the law is to only get 1 freebie, they can still pay for as many as they want from their own money. If they look up the register they will get names and just send a general single free "the household" one.


I hold the person on the poster personally responsible for putting them up. They should personally be auditing them and enforcing the guidelines, and their own guidelines.

I have a new way of thinking about the posters.

When I see a poster up now I ask myself "if I was in the country council advising where to place things, and that space where election poster is was a permanent advertising area, then would I have placed that warning road sign or traffic light in that same position?". If the answer is no then you have a very serious problem, that politician is clearly showing that they have no respect for public safety, so what the hell will they be getting up to once in office.

Well said

expectationlost

who is it that collates the electoral register into households?

Fred Swanson

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