Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Since I have become a Member of the Seanad, I have realised, like others, that the media and social media dictate what message we get out there. We all know that. A Senator could say ten brilliant things and the media will twist one point, making it seem like the Senator said something he or she did not say at all. It does not make a difference if the Senator explains, because if you explain, you are losing. Social media and the media are running the show. If we save the money we spend on posters, we might have some hope of using it on social media to get the truth of what we are actually trying to say and do, as a Government, across. I feel very strongly about it. The use of posters is a joke. It is so 1980s. It really is. If we need to use posters to get elected in this day and age, there is something wrong with our system. I know some will say we can be for or against the use of posters. I think this is a really important Bill. It is good to have a debate, but we also need support for the Bill. Of course, some will always object to a Bill if it is a Government Bill or a Green Party Bill. That is their prerogative. We can look at other countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Italy and Spain. Foreign friends of mine think the use of posters is mad. We are a laughing stock when it comes to elections and the use of posters. The cable ties are a joke. The photo of candidates looking weird on posters is a joke. Candidates do not look like themselves at all. It is very strange. Some say good-looking people get elected because their good-looking faces are plastered all over the poles.

I think we need to ask a lot of questions. What is the use of posters about? We want to represent the people. I believe that if we asked the people of Ireland tomorrow morning, the vast majority of them would say that they do not want posters. If our job is to represent the people, and the people do not want posters, we should take this Bill seriously and get it over the line. I welcome the support of my colleagues in the Green Party, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and my colleagues in government and opposition. I urge them to take this Bill seriously. I have tried using recycled and biodegradable posters. They do not work. It is a joke. Plastic is evil and we have to move away from using it. We know that it is ruining our oceans and rivers. Now, it is in our stomachs. We must take it seriously. It is a serious issue. Posters are bad, and we need to move away from using them. Politics is a different game now. We all know it. We have the media and social media. Let us not pretend that we need posters anymore. If we do, there is something wrong with our system.