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LAST UPDATE | 7 Jun 2024
Election day is here and the polls are open until 10pm tonight.
It’s time to choose your candidates for the local and European elections.
The European elections are pretty high profile, and The Journal’s European election candidate database sets out who’s running in each constituency and the issues they’re campaigning on
By contrast, it can be a bit trickier to find out who you can vote for in your local area, so here’s a quick guide, with a few links to resources you might find handy.
Local authorities (that’s city and county councils) are divided up into smaller “local electoral areas” sometimes known as wards or municipal districts.
The reason this matters on polling day is that you can’t vote for everyone running for election to your council.
Rather you can only vote for candidates running for election in your local electoral area, so they’re the ones you’ll want to familiarise yourself with.
These will probably be the people whose posters you see closest your home, and the ones who have dropped leaflets in the door or come canvassing for your vote.
To be honest, it’s not straightforward.
It’s up to each council to publish this information and their efforts are of varying degrees of clarity and helpfulness.
Bualadh bos for Clare County Council, for example, which has done a nice job of segregating the candidates by electoral area, with drop down menus and photos of the runners and riders. Unfortunately several other councils have not presented the information quite so clearly.
The Electoral Commission has provided links to each of the local authority lists of candidates, which you can find at the bottom of this page.
Annoyingly, several of these are long PDFs that are hard to search (we’re looking at you, Dublin City Council, and you Mayo County Council), but they all break down the candidates by electoral area.
Luckily, other resources are available. Women for Election, which campaigns for there to be more women in politics, has built a map-based tool (works better on mobile) that gives the candidates running in each local electoral area by gender and party.
The news media is doing a lot to improve the legibility of these local elections. Local media have provided handy guides to who’s running where, such as the Echo’s rundown for South Dublin County Council or the Dublin Inquirer’s database for Fingal and Dublin city. The Meath Chronicle has published detailed profiles of the county’s six electoral areas, the candidates running and the issues on the ground.
At national level, the Irish Times and Irish Independent have compiled excellent databases broken down by electoral area.
This information should probably be provided on polling cards, but unfortunately it isn’t.
However, you can easily find it out with a small bit of research.
There may be a map on your local authority website, like this super snazzy interactive one for Donegal (works better on a computer than on a mobile) and this comprehensive, townland-level one for Offaly, or the list of which neighbourhoods lie in which wards for Cork City Council. If you Google the name of your local authority and “local electoral areas” you should find something along these lines.
But the handiest thing is probably to use the literature that comes in your door to guide you: council candidates will usually name the local electoral area they’re running in on the pamphlets they stick through your letterbox.
Alternatively, you could look up any candidates whose posters you see in your locality and find out the name of the ward that way.
When you know who’s running in your locality, you can look up candidates’ websites and social media to find out more about what they stand for and what they want for your area, which they’ll be representing for the next five years, and for the wider county (or city as the case may be).
Here on The Journal we’ve analysed the main political parties’ local election manifestos and those of the smaller parties too.
And if you’re wondering what exactly councillors do, we’ve already got a short explainer answering that question (and how much they get paid) ready for you.
You don’t need a polling card to vote: just rock up to your polling station between befire 10pm with some ID.
The name of your polling station is on your polling card.
If you’ve lost your card, type your details into the register of electors to find out where your polling station is – and if you’re not registered for this election you can get registered for the next election on the same website.
The Journal’s EU candidate database can be accessed here:
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The problem here is information. People assume that say Primark/Pennys/Peacocks MUST buy from sweatshops because they sell at low cost. In fact they have good programmes for ensuring fair conditions. Mid-range retailers will be sourcing from the same factories, yet aren’t tarred with the same brush. So people feel comfortable buying from say TopShop/Next/Burtons etc and look down on say Penneys…when in fact it’s all the same source.
You can pay 100e for the top designer t shirt if you want, but it might still be made in the same factories, by the same people, bigger markup is all.
I don’t think it’s down to the consumer or corporations to police these things. Surely it should be part of trade agreements that goods sold within the eu be produced ethically. Then the consumer can just shop for cheapest/best goods with a clear conscience as it should be.
It’s bennetton that most recently came under fire for conditions regarding workers and there are no €2 t-shirts there. Higher prices in no way correlates with better conditions for workers.
If there was some sort of unique label on the clothing to say it was made in a factory with a set minimum standard of acceptable conditions and pay. I would be more likely to buy such clothing…as it is we never can tell under what conditions our clothing is made.
Does that fair trade thing only apply to food, coffee etc? Problem is who would police it and how could you trust it? I think there were a couple of stories about the label being misused.
The only other alternative is to do absolutely nothing and carry on as it is now because someone said it might be difficult.
Or do it through trade agreements, which would be a proper solution
Like TTIP……..lol.
So you’re against trade agreements then. What’s your solution, economic isolationism like 1930s dev? Think ireland has done ok with free trade if you look at all the people working in the multinationals.
No Malvolio….I’m against trade agreements made by big business.
How do you think ttip will affect this issue?
Some places like M&S and debhanams do. You should google the store name and fair trade before heading to the checkout. Clothes are a little more expensive but its worth it to have a clear conscience.
The solution is to make these t-shits at home or within the EU. Fruit of The Loom is an example, Irish company, made in Ireland, it was supplying t-shits all over the world and they weren’t expensive, they were just more expensive than sweat shops, but still affordable. We are to blame as well, we are greedy
My point above exactly juan. We heaped loads on regs, min wages etc, on domestic producers and expect them to compete on an uneven playing field being sold alongside tshirts from these sweatshops.
Mar gheall ar TTIP an fhaidhb atá ann ná nach bhfuil fhios againn céard atá ann. Tá na cainteanna faoi rún agus diabhail mórán áite ann do lucht oibre ná an gnáth duine. An gceapann tú go mbeidh siad chun do leasa??
Nil fhios agam, an bhfuil fhios agat?
Modern day slavery but the west choose to ignore it as long as the west gets cheap clothes. Seriously I doubt anyone that buys a very cheap item of clothing expects that the worker is getting paid a decent wage and has good working conditions.
It’s the consumers prerogative to walk into shop and purchase whatever they like if they are satisfied with the goods and price. It should be down to the govt, eu, WTO, trade deals etc to ensure unethical goods do not end up on the shelf in the first place.
Cigarettes and alcohol could be deemed unethical to sell in that case.
Yeah article is about the ethics of production though, so that’s what I was talking about obvs. Alcohol & tobacco impact the user, totally different issue.
You said it’s up to the Govt etc to ensure unethical goods don’t end up on the shelves in the first place. Well cigarettes are unethical to sell as they have zero positive effects on the body. My point is, it’s not up to the government, it lies with the consumer. Surely you can see the connection. Sick of these nanny state activists
Cholly, it’s completely different. People can make a moral decision on whether to cigarettes or not, just based on their own self interest.
Don’t they use children to pick tobacco too??
Its all relative! The €2 spent on a tee-shirt over here provides a living over in the likes of Bangladesh! Slowly but surely the price will increase and standard of living will improve. Its not our choice its theirs! Im happy to get my €2 tee-shirts!
If they came over and stayed in our jails they’d think they were in Buttlins! All relative!
Bargain
Truly a case of “out of sight, out of mind.”
Great idea to bring it home again.
Also, something that is not as popular to point out is that these factories undercut our own producers, partly because they don’t have to comply with all the environmental/safety/and other regulations that our own producers are subject to. Wages will always be lower, but surely we should insist on those factories complying with the other regs rather than keep shutting our own factories.
How many T-shirts do you think one of these girls can make in an hour?(at 13cents an hour)
How much do dunnes or tescos charge for just one shirt €10, there the enablers here they can well afford to pay more and stay profitable
Bit of a sweeping statement? Think tescos aren’t having a great time if it recently? Also there’s a bit of a contradiction there as I would consider 10e very cheap and you say they’re the ones should be paying more.
We have way too many clothes, we could buy half as many clothes, pay twice as much for each item and still have way more than enough…every clothes shop in the country could close for a year and nobody would be walking around naked.
As well as the horrible social impact of poor working conditions, there’s the environmental impact of cotton and synthetics to consider, cotton is a brutal water hog with each cotton t-shirt needing 2,000 litres of water to produce, and it only grows in water-poor areas. Synthetics are spun from oil and buying them makes fracking and tar sands mining more profitable.
Every time you shop at Zara, for example, you’re helping one of the richest men in the world to become even more obscenely wealthy by exploiting workers and the environment.
Lucy Siegle’s To Die For is an excellent source of information about the dark side of the Fashion Industry which is well worth a read.
All grand Seamus but what’s the solution? Rationing for clothes, a levy on t shirts?
Also, I think the function of clothes has evolved far beyond not being naked. If we take that to its ultimate we could all just wear blue overalls like in maos socialist paradise.
Yes i do agree with you but as I love to sew I do find that i can make clothes to my liking,the matarial,cotton etc can be expensive but in the end i have made it and feel good Unfortunately we do live in a world where the rich get richer and yes the poor struggle. But life goes on as it has for years.
Some useful rankings for people who wish to support ethical clothing here:
@jimbo. Interesting link. Penneys has the same ethical rating as dolce and gabanna. Top rating for designers is significantly lower than that for high street.
If they hadn’t these low-paid jobs, what would they do instead? Draw the dole? If they quit, there are plenty of other starving people who’d take their place. The problem is over-population in these poor countries. If that bears heavily on your conscience then so be it.
You can get them in Michael Guineys, one wash and the shape goes out of them.
I have t-shirts that are older than the Internet.
Ok, ok…
I have T-shirts that are older than the World-wide-web.
I haven’t shopped in low price specialists for exactly this reason. No matter how much I could do with saving money there’s no excuse for supporting exploitative businesses. I know higher priced clothing is probably made by people working under equally bad conditions but at least I can avoid supporting companies who would have to be paying a pittance in order to sell at such a low price. If your t shirt costs €2 or €5 then by the time the retail shop pays wages here plus business rates, tax etc, and pays to have item shipped halfway around the world then how much do you think the person who made it gets paid?
For all you know the same workers could be making both the €2 and €30 tops. A higher price has nothing to do with conditions but rather profit.
Sara I’m afraid the higher priced items are also made by people on extremely low wages. Benetton was one of the companies involved in that building collapse (last year I think?)….they don’t sell their clothes for €2…. Not sure how to overcome the issue either tho!
Monsterbloood is right it’s well known that penny’s clothing and river Island clothing are made in the same factories
I already acknowledged this in my first comment. My point is that if you shop where clothes are routinely priced at a few euro then these MUST be exploiting workforce whereas higher priced items MAY have been made in a sweatshop. Fair trade is the best option if you can find it
Sara, Shannon just pointed out to you that the same workers who make Penneys clothes also make River Island clothes. They get paid and treated the same to make clothes for both brands, however, River Island prices are 3 or 4 times those of Penneys.
Penneys lower price just means they are making a lower margin on sales.
Yep I would. It’s not because I’ve no conscience and I don’t know how things work in the world its out of pure necessity. I simply can’t afford to shop with my conscience. As with the food I buy, I can’t afford fair trade coffee or chocolate, I can’t buy a more reputable brand of rice…..
This was an interesting test – but it Failed to give us vital information in the end . What we should have been told was :
1: How many people actually purchased one?
2: How many people actually cancelled and walked away after being told the facts about the manufacturer.
That answer would have be most interesting !
I would still buy it I know it’s horrible and I know all my clothes are made in these places but it’s not down to me I didn’t make the prices it’s there government and they aren’t going to change !
Yes I would end off
The problem is all clothes that are on high street are made in these sweatshops. Hugh profits for the manufacturer misery for the slave workers and happy consumers here in the so called first world.
Watch out for TTIP bringing a sweat shop closer to you. Predatory capitalism and corruption where the bottom line is thee one and only factor, this is what TTIP is all about.
Ttip is a real hot topic with you guys, can anyone give me a factual on what is it actually going to change? Business wise we are so plugged in to globalisation there’s surely some benefits there for us aswell?
Well you said it “there’s surely some benefits there for us as well?” The short answer there is no. This is simply the expansion of corporate power and their influence in Governments. Take a look at the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVs0aGCGEAk&feature=share
The last 10 mins sum it up fairly well.
Was in the U.S. very recently . Went for a ‘walk through ‘ in a top end department store. I was wearing a short sleeved Summer shirt which I had bought in Dunnes Stores here in Ireland for €20. Imagine my horror when I came across the exact same shirt on a 33% reduction on sale for $96 !!!! (€80approx). We really should make ourselves more aware of the origin of the clothes we buy and the conditions under which people have to work to produce them.
I wonder what would happen to the people who make the t-shirts and other cheap clobber….well they’d probably starve and the jobs would move to another cheap low cost manual manufacturing base…..
A shirt with a peach finish has usually undergone a process in which the fabric has been very lightly distressed – this gives it an extra soft feel. Men’s and ladies shirts with a peach or carbon finish are usually casual shirts.HQ Clothing
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