John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My first experience of posters was in the 2004 local elections. I was 14 years of age. At that stage, my dad had been a councillor for 15 years. I was helping him to put up posters at 7 a.m. He fell off the ladder, broke a rib or two and, a week later, lost his seat to a former Member of this House, former Senator Mark Dearey from Dundalk. That was my first experience with posters. It was not a good one and it was not a good election for my family either, but since then I have come to love posters and see their value in the political system and campaigns.

I commend Senator Pauline O'Reilly on bringing this debate to the House. There are very few issues on which she and I disagree, politically speaking, but this is one of them. As Senator Malcolm Byrne stated, however, this is a very important debate to have. It is what this House should be about. The House is at its very best when we are debating issues of significance on which Members have opposing views but engage in respectful debate. This is very much what this debate is. As so many other speakers have spoken before me, it is difficult to contribute without reiterating some of the main points that have been made. I wish to focus on a few of my key experiences of it.

In 2014, when I first ran for election, I was 22 years of age. I found the ability to put up posters and get my face out there in a wide geographical area of Dundalk-Carlingford, encompassing 40% of Dundalk town and the entire Cooley Peninsula, was very beneficial to me. I found I was not recognised when I called to doors. Why on earth would anyone know a 22-year-old running for election? I had no track record and nobody knew me. I was fresh out of college. I found that the use of posters was a useful way for people to recognise me as John McGahon of Fine Gael, the young fella they saw on the poster. It was a good way for me to introduce myself. That was very useful as a young first-time candidate with no track record.

Fast-forwarding to 2019, I thought it was a bit of a laugh that councillors throughout the country were putting forward motions to county councils to ban posters. The councillors in question were all poll toppers. I can name them. In my county and in other areas, they were poll toppers who were going to get elected anyway. Of course it suited them not to have posters.We can see it everywhere. I am not suggesting this is the case with Senator Pauline O'Reilly's Bill, but two months from local elections, it is easy for any councillor to put down a motion to get rid of posters and get a bit of publicity. It does not matter if the councillor is a poll-topper. He or she will be returned to the council, regardless of whether the motion is passed. That is why I think this debate today is important. It is not opportunistic and just before an election. It is being debated at a proper stage within this Parliament. I think it is a good time to debate the issue. A pet hate of mine is seeing the tags from posters. Perhaps I notice them more when I am driving around because I am in politics. I hate it. When I am up a pole taking posters down, I try to take as many of them down as possible. Another thing that I have learned about posters is that in a general election campaign everybody is very keen to help put them up, but when you lose, you are taking them down on your own. It takes a substantially longer amount of time and perhaps some fines from local authorities to get it done. Everyone is keen to put posters up, but when you lose, you end up taking them down yourself.

Some might argue that we can advertise the modern way, by advertising on Facebook or using geo-targeting. We have to look at the demographics as well. The demographics of Facebook users have shifted significantly. The average age of Facebook users is 40 or 50+. Younger people are using TikTok. The concept of being able to put posters up right across a geographical area allows everybody, regardless of age, to be able to see who the candidates are. I agree with a point that was made previously. It is easy for those of us who live in a political bubble to think that everyone is interested in politics and knows what is going on. The vast majority of people do not care. They only realise an election is happening once they see the posters going up. That triggers them to realise that the election is happening and to look up their local candidates. People become tuned in and turned on to an election when posters go up.

Posters are a fundamental part of our political discourse and campaigning. I believe that they serve a purpose. Another experience I had with posters was when I was at UCD, during student elections. I was not very involved in student union elections. Indeed, I was anti-student union. It was a case of putting up posters on a poster run. The Minister of State and Senator Ward will recall that it was almost as if there was a starting line. There would be 100 people putting up posters and it was carnage. It was organised chaos. Students would run down the concourse in UCD to try to get the best poster spots. All joking aside, I think that posters play a fundamental role in our political campaigns and discourse. I believe that they provide an advantage to newcomer candidates. Removing them gives an unfair advantage to incumbents who already have a substantially high name recognition. I appreciate the debate we are having on this issue. It is an important debate to have. I think there could be a compromise somewhere along the line in the future. Perhaps the compromise could be the introduction of a cap on the number of posters, or restrictions on the areas in which posters can be put up.

Finally, Senator Ward raised a point to which I wish to respond. It has not happened in my area, but I take issue with TidyTowns telling people where they can and cannot put up posters. We are all happy to oblige, help out and follow the rules. However, I would take issue with it if the practice was to become widespread, limiting people across a geographical constituency, when there is no law on the matter. I welcome the debate. It is very good. Perhaps at some stage in the future a compromise will be reached. However, I think posters have a role to play.