Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting to listen to the debate today. It reminds me of the Bob Dylan song - Senators and congressmen, the times are changing. I know that we have all put up posters. We can say that it is all part of politics until the cows come home. However, things have to change. There are so many reasons this is a most important debate. This Bill should be supported by the House. First, the use of posters gives an unfair advantage to bigger parties. I know that myself from running as a Green Party candidate. Others do not have the money that the big parties have. The smaller parties and independent candidates do not have as much of a chance of getting the posters up, which is unfair in the first place. If we want fairness, we must look at that issue. I grew up in north County Clare. Basically, we thought there was nobody running for elections except Fianna Fáil candidates. Perhaps those living in places such as County Meath only thought there were Fine Gael candidates running.