Offaly villages take a stand on election posters

There may be a new national campaign calling on communities to declare themselves poster free zones in the run up to May's local and European elections, but the residents of one Offaly village haven't seen an election poster on their streets for almost two decades.

A serial county title winner and one of the most consistently highest scoring places in the Tidy Towns competition, Geashill (pictured) was far ahead of the curve when it came to asking politicians to stop erecting posters at election time.

Pat Foley of Geashill Tidy Towns says that political candidates were first asked to stop putting up posters in the village around 20 years ago.

“We've had an agreement with all of the political parties and independent candidates, or even with referendums, we haven't had postering for as far back as anyone can remember I say.

“Everyone accepts it. We might have an independent candidate that mighn't be aware or if there is a national referendum on a social issue you might have someone coming in from outside but as soon as we point it out we never had any kickback.

“There has been a very positive reaction to it locally and we have always had the co-operation of the political parties.”

The Poster Free campaign was set up to encourage election candidates to run plastic-poster-free election campaigns due to the damage single-use plastic causes to the environment.

While Geashill is not officially involved in the Poster Free campaign, Pat believes that anything that gets people to act in a more environmentally responsible way is a good thing. He also believes that politicians who continue to use posters made of plastic may be doing their campaign more harm that good.

“They are a blight on towns and villages during elections and there is a level of overkill involved in it. It's wasteful from a resource point of view. They are not really recyclable, the corriboard {corrigated plastic] they use.

“...It's not the way to garner popularity or attention any longer. Especially in the current climate you could be a stage where people react negatively if they see excessive postering.”

Another Offaly village that will be poster free in the coming months is Walsh Island. Liam Carty of the Walsh Island Development Group said that politicians were first asked to not erect posters in the run up to the 2016 general election and that since then candidates and groups have been “very cooperative”.

“The reason behind doing it is one year we had 24 posters outside our church and graveyard... for a small village it was very extreme

“We held an open village meeting in February so that the candidates for the May elections could introduce themselves in person rather than being up on poles all around the village. It was very successful.

“We erect signage at the three entrances to the village to mark our poster free zone and also have sent a letter to the candidates.

“Looking forward every village and town has to do their own little bit for the environment and cutting down the number of single use plastic election posters is a start.

“We're glad to be apart of the 101 areas taking part in the Poster Free campaign this year,” Mr Carty concluded.

However, Green Party election candidate for the Edenderry Electoral Area Pippa Hackett believes that by declaring themselves poster free zones in the lead up to May's local and European elections, towns and villages may push election posters into the countryside.

She suggests that villages eager to tackle the issue of posters should adopt a similar policy to one used on the continent.

“While I welcome individual villages and towns opting to go poster free, I am concerned that this may push more posters into our countryside, where due to isolation and the sheer range of the rural area, there is a greater chance of less responsible removal afterwards.

“Almost all EU countries limit posters to designated areas, usually administered by their local authorities. Such areas give equal space to each election candidate, while still allowing the electorate to familiarise themselves with the contenders, as well as serving as a reminder that an election is taking place.

“I would like to propose that Offaly towns and villages, particularly those that have expressed a desire to go poster free, trial such an idea for the upcoming elections on May 24. I would also suggest that a nominal fee should be charged for each poster, which could go towards supporting the work of the particular tidy towns or development committee. I think this would be a good compromise, which would serve to reduce poster use, while still facilitating this traditional electioneering process, and would also help in raising useful funds for local use.