Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank Senator Pauline O'Reilly and the Green Party Senators for using their Private Members' time to initiate this debate because it is important and people go very slowly. Despite what people might say, there is huge resistance to controlling posters. I am in favour of the substantial controlling of public posters. The product used in making them is a concern, as is the amount of them used. Larger political parties have an advantage over the smaller parties and Independent candidates. The latter are courageous, strong, robust individuals who put themselves on the ballot paper, and there are plenty of them around the country. They have difficulty in securing manpower to get the posters up and in paying for their design and manufacture. There has to be another way.

I lived in Greece in the early 1980s and there were designated boards. If anyone knows anything about the Greek people, they are highly political. In 1980 and 1981, there were television monitors on screens with political cartoons. It was amazing. People sat around pubs drinking ouzo, coffee and God knows what. There was huge political engagement. They are very political in everything they do and, in many ways, that is to be admired.They had designated areas for posters outside the offices of the mayors on all of the squares. The names of candidates were listed on boards, left to right alphabetically.

I am familiar with the position in the greater London area, particularly in Greenwich, where there are no posters. Amazingly, there are very few posters in Britain. The Electoral Commission provides every candidate who has been nominated and approved with an A4 sheet to use in whatever way he or she likes, provided it is legally compliant, does not incite hatred and meets all the usual standard checks. Candidates can print a picture, message and whatever on the sheet, which is then delivered to every house in the locality. That is a wonderful idea. Rather than all of the trash people get through their doors, everybody gets one sheet that conveys a message. It is not the case that the more posters a candidate puts up, the more votes he or she will get. I know candidates who spent a lot of money on posters but did not get elected. They did not even get half a quota so there is a lesson in that.

I always say that success in elections and political life is about breaking bread at people's tables. That is a simple analogy but what I mean by that is that we have to look people in the eye, make our case and ask them to give us the gift of their vote. While that is time-consuming, it is a very successful way of engaging. I do not say this glibly but it is about meeting people. The Irish electorate likes to meet people, be it at town-hall rallies or in community centres. Traditionally, people would stand on the backs of lorries parked outside mass and roar their message. Funnily, they did not go to Anglican churches. I think there was an understanding that the Anglicans would not tolerate such behaviour for some reason, and it did not happen.

Mount Merrion is a little suburb in south County Dublin. Elections are about community engagement and citizens. The residents of Mount Merrion have issued a notice that they do not want election posters in their area and if they are put up, they will campaign against the candidate in question. We see the same in Dalkey village and other areas. Mount Merrion and Dalkey village are two places in my neck of the woods where this happens and it also happens in other areas. Citizens, be they Tidy Towns committees or civic groups, can exercise power, take the initiative and collectively decide that they do not want posters. We are talking about local government, engaging with people, having elected mayors and giving citizens powers. Let us take back some of that and say, "Hang on, I am in a Tidy Towns district and this is our district." Let us network with residents associations and say we do not want posters. That works and candidates must respect it. I am sure Senator Ward is familiar with Mount Merrion and the approach taken up there, which works.

I welcome this debate and I am sympathetic to the proposal. We should have some mechanism of postering but it should be limited because we have to help new candidates. Name recognition is important in politics. I remember speaking to a guy in the Irish Marketing Institute of Ireland about politics and success in politics and elections. He said we should remember that politicians are a product like any other. He picked up a green bottle of Heineken, spun it around and said, "Heineken is in a green bottle and Coca-Cola is in a red can; that is branding, marketing and name recognition." There is something in that and the psychology of it. We can look at other ways of creating razzmatazz and encouraging people to engage, which is a feat the Green Party has mastered. I remember Roger Garland getting elected. A few days before the election, using two pieces of string he tied one poster to a bicycle placed outside the library in Stillorgan. People laughed at him for doing so but a few days later he had a big smile on his face when he was elected to Dublin South, as it was then known. Politics is as much about messaging, walking the walk and communicating one's message. I agree, however, that new candidates need support.

The Electoral Reform Bill 2022, which has reached Committee Stage in the Dáil, provides scope to deal with a lot of this. The programme for Government states that the electoral commission will be tasked with examining the use of election posters within 12 months of its establishment and that the Government will legislate for its recommendations in advance of the 2024 local elections. There is a three-party coalition Government in place and its programme for Government belongs to the Minister of State and Government Senators. I urge them to hold the partnership to account, although Opposition Members, including me, prefer to call it a coalition. That is what the Government has signed up and committed to. That is what the parties have committed to. I wish the Minister of State every success.

Senator Barry Ward: @ 5.11 to 5.45 mins - Ar dtús