We need to curb election posters

Election posters again became a topic of discussion during the recent local and European elections, as an aside to political issues such as water charges, medical cards and the economy.

And rightly so, for it was impossible to travel in many areas without encountering myriads of beaming portraits on lamps, poles, and every available vantage point. This blanket coverage, haphazardly and sometimes dangerously placed, with many posters bearing no selling points other than cliches and party affiliations, was unappealing to the majority of the electorate, and an unwelcome distraction.

It is understandable that posters are a means of gaining recognition, particularly for relatively unknown candidates. It is also understandable that candidates will try to copy or better others, and the number of posters simply increase. What is not understandable is why it is not more strictly regulated.

An alternative system should be considered. In France, many municipalities restrict the placement of election posters to specific locations, and erect stands for that purpose. And perhaps the manifestos of candidates might be made collectively available at these locations for the electorate to inform themselves, as opposed to being subjected to the results of meaningless photo shoots, extending for kilometres along roadsides. It might also result in a more level playing field for candidates of lesser finances to get their message across, who might be equally if not more capable than those who are promoted by party machines engaging in poster ‘carpet bombing’.

The present system is also unacceptable from an aesthetic point of view, with posters ‘whistling in the wind’ in inclement weather, and occasionally causing danger to life and limb, upon their return to ‘terra firma’.

Not to mention the innumerable cable ties, left like aerials protruding from poles, greening with age, and requiring removal by Tidy Towns Committees. And then there is the needless expense of it all.

We in this country are continuously subjected to increased regulation. Perhaps it is time for that to be applied to those seeking election to public office, in the methods employed such as campaign posters, and the enactment or amendment of relevant legislation.

Doug Lucey

Knockaneowen

Coachford

Co Cork