Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

It is. The Department of Finance always had an old rule that once an election started, photocopiers and printers could not be used for anything that was directly related to an election issue. That extended to circulars that were sent out during an election period, so if something was to be sent out about a traffic problem outside election time, that was allowed, otherwise it was not. That line is already there and I know that it was imposed in the last election. Any literature of a canvassing nature is not allowed to be sent during election time.

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