Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Pauline O'Reilly for bringing the Bill before the House. This is an issue about which politicians, in particular, become very excited and have large numbers of opinions, but I am not sure that everybody does. I have an intense dislike and hatred of posters, but that is mainly due to the exertion that goes with them. I had to chase after a poster of mine through two fields on Valentine's night in the middle of a freezing February.

Everybody knows the feeling of losing an election and then taking down their posters and being dumped on by three-week-old rainwater when doing so. We receive phone calls from people saying there are either too many or not enough posters, or that it took us a night to put them up and why do we not take them down. I hate them and I would love to be in a situation where the physical exertion involved in putting up posters is no longer required. However, we have to speak to the merits of the Bill and consider the impact it may have on democracy. This is an important first step in raising this issue. It comes up during every election, but it is rarely discussed between elections. That is why this debate is good, and we can take a step back and think about what works and what can be facilitated. I wish to add my personal opinions. Like every political party, the Labour Party does not have an absolutely settled opinion on posters. Different people have different views and opinions. We should approach this debate in that way rather than digging ourselves into the trenches, one way or the other.

The Bill provides for the Minister to make regulations in respect of this matter. Perhaps the most relevant provision in the Bill allows the Minister to set out "a method for the calculation of the maximum number of advertisements allowed in respect of each candidate, or proposal which is the subject of the referendum, on each designated structure." I have some worries around that provision, as a first draft, because I am not sure it should be up to a Minister to be able to set them. Could a Minister allow 600 posters for one political party that has three candidates, while allowing 200 posters for another political party? There needs to be independence of oversight when it comes to doing that.The Minister of State setting up an electoral commission, which exists in many other countries, is welcome. For too long we have not had one designated electoral commission to look at things like ensuring the freeness and fairness of elections. We are lucky to have a free, fair and robust democracy. That is not guaranteed and an electoral commission, rather than a Government or Minister of the day, should be tasked with setting it.

We need to ensure that democracy is fun and engaged. Posters are fun and engage people in the democratic process. I would not like us move to a state where we had a democratically sanitised streetscape so people would not know an election is going on, unless it is in designated spaces. The way we do it at the moment in the middle of the night or, as some people do it, at 5 p.m. when the litter wardens go home, running around like lunatics - that is probably not a great choice of word - is probably not the best way. We can make it more efficient and easier for people who do not have huge numbers of volunteers to do it. Posters bring a frisson of recognition to the democratic and electoral process that is not seen if it is overly controlled. Democracy has to be robust but also dirty, fun and messy. That makes elections elections and engages people.

We will not vote against this Bill. There are many views in my party on this issue. We need to make sure smaller parties and the robustness of democracy are protected. It is a worthwhile, open and welcome debate to conduct in the middle of an election cycle when it is not pressing and nobody is throwing their opinions at us. That enables us to consider how we do it in a way that is effective, environmentally friendly and easier on people like me who hate postering, while also engaging people in the democratic process.