Mr. Art O'Leary:

We sure are. It is one of the big priorities for Dr. O'Sullivan and her team this year. On the one hand there are the environmental issues, the cable ties and so on. Those arguments have been put forward. On the other hand, there are many academics who feel very strongly, like the Chair said, that there is a vast swathe of people who do not know there are elections coming until they start seeing the posters on lamp posts. There is also the suggestion that dropping posters favours incumbents because they tend to be well-known figures and public figures. Particularly where there is a reluctance on the behalf of some candidates, especially women candidates, to go face-to-face canvassing this is an opportunity to get their face out in public. The academic evidence here is incontrovertible that Irish people like to vote for people they know, see or recognise as well, so it is an opportunity for new candidates to get themselves out there. It is not a case of either a feast or a famine. There are many countries which adopt a process where they say candidates cannot put posters all over a constituency or there is a certain part of a town or village where postering is banned. A cap can be introduced on the number of posters of say 200 or 250 rather than 800 or 1,000 where there are no limits right now. Interestingly and anecdotally, some of the greatest regulators of the postering issue in constituencies are Tidy Towns committees because they go to candidates and tell them-----