New rules require charities and clubs to get insurance before erecting posters

The rules have been branded as 'undemocratic' by councillors

Solidarity councillor Fiona Ryan said the public liability insurance requirement would lock out all but the biggest political parties and non-governmental agencies from advertising campaigns or public meetings. Picture: David Keane.

Groups will need public liability insurance before being given permission to erect posters on the streets of Cork city, under new draft guidelines. 

The insurance requirement in the city's proposed new ‘postering protocol’ has come under fire from city councillors.

A strategic policy committee (SPC) had recommended to council that members adopt a more simplified and specific application form for limited postering by sports clubs and associations, and to accept and implement the legal advice that all applicants for postering should have appropriate public liability insurance to cover the erection and removal of posters.

But councillors opted to refer the matter back to the SPC for more discussion.

Solidarity councillor Fiona Ryan described the new protocol as “undemocratic” and suggested it was an attempt by the established political parties to “lock-out grassroots campaigns”.

She said the public liability insurance requirement would lock out all but the biggest political parties and non-governmental agencies from advertising campaigns or public meetings.

“This is a wildly undemocratic move,” she said.

She cited recent high-profile campaigns, including the water charges movement, the Repeal the Eighth and the same-sex marriage referendum, where the main political parties reacted to grass-roots pressure fuelled by campaigns organised largely by postering.

“This [the new protocol] is targeted at removing grassroots campaigns and community groups from advertising. It won’t stop big parties or wealthy organisations from postering,” she said.

Worker’s Party councillor Ted Tynan also expressed reservations about it and urged councillors to consider “a democracy wall” – designated spaces in local neighbourhoods or in the city, where groups could erect their posters freely.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran said the insurance issue arose out of genuine public safety concerns and said legal advice received by the SPC was clear – that the city could be held liable if a large poster caused an injury to an individual.

The city council’s director of operations, David Joyce, said the new protocols were designed to replace the existing laborious process in an effort to help groups who want to erect posters – not to stop them.

“They are there to help people do it in a responsible way, to ensure that we know where the posters have been put up, and to ensure that they are taken down in time,” he said.

The new protocols say posters and notices promoting commercial events are prohibited.

Posters and notices will not be authorised on Patrick Street.

Applications from registered charities promoting events, which charge an entry fee, will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Posters and notices which have the potential to cause reputational damage to private individuals, organisations or to the city are prohibited.