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The material takes over 400 years to biodegrade. Posterfree.ie

Candidates in more than 150 election areas to go poster free for upcoming elections

After an eight-week campaign 91 candidates have said they are going poster free.

A TOTAL OF 152 towns and election areas are going poster-free for the upcoming local elections in a bid to cut down on cardboard waste. 

Ireland will go to the polls on 24 May to vote in the upcoming local elections as well as the European elections on the same day. 

After an eight-week campaign, and with Tidy Towns groups involved, 91 candidates across the country have so far agreed not to erect election posters in their areas.

It represents 16% of all the tidy town entrants from 2018 and it is now calling for a national voluntary ban to ensure a nationwide poster free election. 

Corrugated plastic, commonly known as Corriboard is the material of choice for election posters, but take more than 400 years to biodegrade. 

According to campaign site PosterFree.ie: “In the 2014 local elections, 2038 candidates ran for 949 seats.

“An estimated 611,000 posters were erected with a combined cost of €3M with posters covering the equivalent area of 23 Croke Parks.

“This produced 366 tonnes of Co2, the equivalent of driving an average car non stop for 592 days.

In many areas, these posters were a safety and driving hazard, often obscuring important road signage. After 30 days of canvassing, the majority of these posters were sent to landfill.”

TD Mick Wallace took to Twitter to announce he would support the campaign.

He said: “To match our words with deed on environmental issues and in support of primary and secondary student’s #ClimateChange Campaign, I’ve decided not to use election posters in upcoming #EP2019.”

More information on the campaign can be found at PosterFree.ie and a full list of towns and areas which have gone poster free are below:

152_areas

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54 Comments
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    Mute Decko Kelly
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:23 PM

    Credit were credit is due. Fair play to them.

    337
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    Mute 5hbeZh0I
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:23 PM

    Can we not just ban them and their fliers

    223
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    Mute Renton Burke
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:55 PM

    @5hbeZh0I: they actually put restriction on them, and any poster you see up now, i.e. before 24th April, is using a loophole (the new “public meeting” exemption – as if it’s medieval times). That means the politicians you see every day not only don’t care about the environment – they have down they will use loopholes when necessary to get personal benefit in spite of the spirit of recent laws to stop littering. Some FF councilors didn’t even bother with the pretend meeting details.

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    Mute Chaos_Ape
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    Apr 18th 2019, 12:20 AM

    @Renton Burke: so basically any vote for a mug on a poster is a vote for old school, brown envalope, jobs for the boys, tory brown nosing nonsense. Noted.

    44
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    Mute Rochelle
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:23 PM

    Waste of money, litters the countryside and achieves nothing. Great to see the early signs of those gaudy election posters going away for good.

    164
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    Mute Derek Moean
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:25 PM

    Good we don’t need to see the faces of these people that do absolutely nothing for the working class of this Country. Letting private companies rip us off insurance company’s and waste companies. And so on .

    100
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    Mute GerryCummins
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:33 PM

    @Derek Moean: get out there Deco! Make your voice heard, as it won’t be on here!

    29
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    Mute In my opinion
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:53 PM

    @Derek Moean: in case it’s escaped your notice this is the local elections that are happening but you can still hit the parties where it hurts and don’t vote a party. Parties mean nothing or have no influence at local level nationally yes they do as legislators.

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    Mute Seamus Ryan
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:15 AM

    @In my opinion: that’s not true. In Laois CoCo FF and FG have made a pact to keep Sinn Fein and Independent councillors out of the main jobs.

    14
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    Mute Vic's Burd
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    Apr 18th 2019, 4:06 AM

    @Seamus Ryan: that’s down to the composition of your local council-your area voted those representatives in, so blame them not the council!

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    Mute Vic's Burd
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    Apr 18th 2019, 4:15 AM

    @Derek Moean: did you know that SF/Lab/Ind have headed the two biggest CoCo for past 7 years (Dublin City and South Dublin) – the WORSE areas for homeless, housing grants and private rentals investment (eg vulture funds)

    All planning and housing decisions are made at council levels not national government. They have made balls of it!

    11
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    Mute GerryCummins
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:32 PM

    Has anybody, anywhere ever voted on the basis of a poster on a lamppost or flyer in the door? If you ever have you should be removed from the electoral register!

    92
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    Mute TheTrustedChalice
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:56 PM

    @5hbeZh0I: hahaha

    8
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    Mute Cian Rynne
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    Apr 18th 2019, 2:24 PM

    @GerryCummins: we laugh but the statistics seem to show the benefits of getting your face out there… campaign spending is correlated with electoral success and you might end up not realising someone is running until you go to the polls because they have elected to run a green campaign and not plaster their face everywhere.
    Seeing a candidates face all over the place unconsciously breeds familiarity which ends up to you implicitly trusting them more when it comes to casting your vote. Just like branding in super markets… if it didn’t work they wouldn’t do it. But it does

    3
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    Mute Tom McBride
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:42 PM

    Make a point of not voting for any candidate who erects posters

    57
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    Mute Alan McDonald
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:25 PM

    @Tom McBride: Any candidate who has any erection near me is crossed off my vote list

    45
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    Mute Nigel Mcatamney
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    Apr 18th 2019, 7:46 AM

    @Alan McDonald: it’s the chap behind with the cable ties I’d be worried about, when these erections are happening…

    7
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    Mute Benny
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:31 PM

    Really dont know what party to vote for, FF ran us into the ground, FG couldn’t run a tap, and no matter who gets in we have basically no decent opposition.

    63
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    Mute 5hbeZh0I
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:45 PM

    @Benny: And we laugh at trump supporters

    22
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    Mute Jaycee Laycee
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:50 PM

    @Benny: It’s only the local elections.

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    Mute Renton Burke
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:57 PM

    @Jaycee Laycee: they’re responsible for property tax, planning and local (albeit stripped down) services. important to weed out the charlatans at this level.

    22
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    Mute Benny
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:05 PM

    @Jaycee Laycee: would you vote for a FF councillor and FG TD?

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    Mute In my opinion
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:54 PM

    @Benny: it’s the local elections not general so your voting in town councillors

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    Mute Benny
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:58 PM

    @In my opinion: so party doesn’t matter?

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    Mute Canny Jem
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    Apr 18th 2019, 2:22 AM

    @In my opinion: The 24th May Election Day is for voting Local Council AND European representatives. Two elections in one visit to the polling stations.
    It behoves all to cast their votes… it took centuries for us Irish to even gain the right to vote, so respect that right gained – and vote.

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    Mute Eric Davies
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    Apr 18th 2019, 10:45 AM

    @Benny: there are plenty of other parties – s.f, workers alliance, people before profit, and loads more – no use saying “well theres no opposition ” unless you give one of these ‘alternatives’ a chance to govern . if enough people stop voting for the same 2 corrupt and inept parties and switch votes to others ,we might actually get some change !

    3
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    Mute Nicola McClurg
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:35 PM

    Great to see 152 towns/areas are going poster free. But what about the other areas around Ireland? A step in right direction.

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    Mute Mick Murphy
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:55 AM

    @Nicola McClurg: Well the town I’m in (Tullow, Co Carlow) is not listed as poster free and I’m sure there will be loads of posters up around the place. But even there, there are individual campaigners going poster free themselves. Maria Ansbro is going poster free and going against her party while doing so. She’s younger than most and it’s a principal thing. I think soon as the next generation of politicians rise this old fashioned type of electioneering will die out. No one likes it. I think civil war politics is dying out too and people will vote for the best person instead of the family party. As you said “a step in the right direction”

    15
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    Mute J. Reid
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:48 PM

    Elections posters are a great symbol of democracy. This is a sad day for the public sphere.

    Election posters are the most refreshing and vivid reminder (to ourselves and to the world) that we do actually live in a democracy, and are fortunate for this. Posters are also the most important way for election candidates to take their message directly to the people, without having to go through the filter of the media.

    Election/referendum posters represent raw, street democracy. By contrast, the media (both established and online) would love to control ALL debate with regard to elections and referendums; this is the true, major reason why the media loves to foment attacks on the idea of postering.

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    Mute Milk The Drones
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:26 PM

    @J. Reid:
    There’s absolutely nothing refreshing about a lump of plastic cable tied to a lamp post depicting the insincere grinning mush of some political gombeen.
    Nothing stopping them from bypassing MSM and getting their message out on You Tube, Twitter or whatever.

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    Mute Tim Pot
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    Apr 18th 2019, 4:41 AM

    @Milk The Drones:

    i like what they do on the continent in some countries.

    Dedicated areas where you will have a poster of each candidate. Much cleaner and ensures every candidate is seen.

    A good compromise whilsts also ensuring that the election is open to all.

    13
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    Mute Siobhan Rosemary
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:48 PM

    Stop posting your unwanted leaflets through my door too please

    46
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    Mute Canny Jem
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    Apr 18th 2019, 2:26 AM

    @Siobhan Rosemary: Agreed. I’ve got already election leaflets posted in my letter box, despite a notice on it saying “No Flyers etc”.
    Anything like that goes straight to the national wastepaper collection without being ever read.

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    Mute steve white
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:34 PM

    suits incumbents

    18
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    Mute Joe O'riordan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:40 PM

    @steve white: absolutely correct and in most cases its the incumbent looking for the ban.

    15
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    Mute PosterFree.ie
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:04 PM

    Great to see the #PosterFree getting national coverage again! We encourage all candidates to go #PosterFree this May on environmental grounds.

    20
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    Mute 5hbeZh0I
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:18 PM

    @PosterFree.ie: why limit yourselves to posters. Why not paperfree?

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    Mute In my opinion
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:55 PM

    @PosterFree.ie: it’s a pity the candidates in Wexford are so draconian and feel the necessity to erect gaudy posters

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    Mute Green Lentils
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:59 PM

    about time…they could stop posting flyers in doors also it’s such a waste

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    Mute In my opinion
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:49 PM

    Christ I look at the poster free map and I don’t see Wexford on I know for a fact labour FG FF will destroy the county with posters, in the age of social media who needs posters. If your not out engaging with your constituents and actively involved in the community you might aswel bugger off but unfortunately here in wexford it’s a case of sure my mother voted for labour all her life Corish Howlin now I’ll give Lawlor and Ryan a vote. Posters are not the way forward that’s the past.

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    Mute Tom's
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:23 PM

    If they were good enough they shouldn’t have to advertise themselves but we all know they are worse than useless

    10
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    Mute Deborah Blacoe
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:37 PM

    We may have less posters, but the journalists are just getting warmed up now for the elections. It’s the raison d’etre for most of them.

    4
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    Mute Blockboy Bertie
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:42 PM

    Where’s Cavan lad??

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    Mute Paul Donnelly
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    Apr 18th 2019, 7:38 AM

    So according people commenting on this site they don’t want posters, leaflets or canvassers?

    So what left? Ah, the media and social media.

    Let go with the media, I think it’s as high as 80% of that is owned by one person, won’t name him in case he tries to sue me.

    The other is state controlled RTE, I’ll leave that there!

    Now let’s get onto social media, controlled mostly by a handful of billionaires who allow shady dark money from people like Trumps biggest fan, Robert Mercier, who also bankrolled Cambridge Analytica in the Brexit campaign.
    There also the shady €250k given to the DUP to buy a four page wrap around Brexit ad in a LONDON newspaper the day of the referendum.

    I will continue to use posters, leaflets and canvassing to defend the democratic process.

    4
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    Mute John Connor
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    Apr 18th 2019, 10:18 AM

    @Paul Donnelly: G’way outta that Paul. Regardless of the environmental impact & sheer waste of posters they’re an eyesore, get plastered on all the lamp posts in our estate and in some locations are a hindrance to road users limiting visibility of oncoming traffic. Never mind all most do is ask for a vote & never explain policies or the candidates viewpoint etc.

    I for one have never decided who to vote for based on some mug beaming down at me from a piece of plastic on a lamp post.

    Fair enough leaflets are at least somewhat more informative, less intrusive & easier to recycle. You also forgot local media/newspapers? As with canvassing some will be given a swift boot off the doorstep but once you don’t knock at dinner time I’ll give you 2 mins as I imagine most would.

    I’ll give you RTE & MSM but there are other ways to get your message across than blighting the landscape. And I say that as a possible SF voter this time round as have never voted FFGLAB and have grown tired of AAA/solidarity whatever they’re called now and someone who actually makes money off the production of posters (because you all need images that are photoshopped to $h1te)

    2
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    Mute Paul Donnelly
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    Apr 18th 2019, 7:40 AM

    So according people commenting on this site they don’t want posters, leaflets or canvassers?

    So what’s left? Ah, the media and social media.

    Let go with the media, I think it’s as high as 80% of that is owned by one person, won’t name him in case he tries to sue me.

    The other is state controlled RTE, I’ll leave that there!

    Now let’s get onto social media, controlled mostly by a handful of billionaires who allow shady dark money from people like Trumps biggest fan, Robert Mercer, who also bankrolled Cambridge Analytica in the Brexit campaign.
    There also the shady €250k given to the DUP to buy a four page wrap around Brexit ad in a LONDON newspaper the day of the referendum.

    I will continue to use posters, leaflets and canvassing to defend the democratic process.

    4
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    Mute DERMOT
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:26 AM

    I’ll definitely consider any who don’t use posters

    3
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    Mute Canny Jem
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    Apr 18th 2019, 2:39 AM

    @DERMOT: Eh what? – What a prospective Local Councillor or European Representative’s policies on your behalf don’t matter to you??

    1
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    Mute Paul Donnelly
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    Apr 18th 2019, 7:40 AM

    So according people commenting on this site they don’t want posters, leaflets or canvassers?

    So what’s left? Ah, the media and social media.

    Let go with the media, I think it’s as high as 80% of that is owned by one person, won’t name him in case he tries to sue me.

    The other is state controlled RTE, I’ll leave that there!

    Now let’s get onto social media, controlled mostly by a handful of billionaires who allow shady dark money from people like Trumps biggest fan, Robert Mercier, who also bankrolled Cambridge Analytica in the Brexit campaign.
    There also the shady €250k given to the DUP to buy a four page wrap around Brexit ad in a LONDON newspaper the day of the referendum.

    I will continue to use posters, leaflets and canvassing to defend the democratic process.

    2
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    Mute Tom's
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    Apr 18th 2019, 11:24 AM

    @Paul Donnelly: why do you need posters for people to know who you are.You should be well enough known for all the good work you do in your constituency

    2
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    Mute Canny Jem
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    Apr 18th 2019, 2:35 AM

    Glad to see this happening.
    In old times, people canvassing for votes set up platforms to speak to the public from or spoke off the back of a lorry outside Churches etc.
    Canvassers are unwelcome visitors to people’s homes and equally unwelcome noise-polluting visitors to housing estates, shouting from loudspeakers on car roofs.
    These days they might be better off speaking outside shopping centres and shops instead – only that they runs risks of being pelted with newly-bought eggs and tomatoes.

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    Mute Paul Donnelly
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    Apr 18th 2019, 7:43 AM

    Apologies for posting the same thing several times! It kept saying there was a problem!

    1
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    Mute Jessie Ginger
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:17 PM

    Fair Play – we should encourage people to seek them out so that nobody can argue next time that they didn’t get enough exposure

    1
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    Mute Paula Mackie Senior
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    Apr 20th 2019, 8:07 AM

    Great news! Waste of resources and a blight.

    1
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