Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

The figures in the Bill are crazy. The maximum amount being spent by my party for elections to town and county councils is €25,000, a much lower figure than the figures provided for in the Bill. The expenditure provisions are off the wall. At a time when we are sending out messages that people must be prudent, allowing election candidates to spend these sums is madness. Before we proceed further, we must review the spending limits on election candidates. While I support the introduction of expenditure limits, the sums proposed are unacceptable.

Under the Bill, it is also proposed to limit the number of posters candidates may use and the period during which posters can be erected. Election posters were erected months before the most recent general election. For this reason, I welcome as positive measures to limit the period when posters may be used.

The current provision under which posters must be removed within seven days of an election is too restrictive. For the first two days after an election, candidates are either tied up at election counts or experiencing the joy or disappointment associated with election results. Requiring candidates to remove posters within just a few days of an election is too prescriptive. In my case, we genuinely forgot about a small number of posters which had been erected in a quiet area during the most recent general election campaign. Local authorities should not rigidly enforce the law. That needs to be considered in the legislation.

I would like to see real reform of local authorities. The one thing I cannot understand is that even though county management teams meet on a weekly basis the chairman of the local authority is not involved in decision making. Until we change that, people will not have a real say in local authorities.

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