Updated 3.35pm
THE DATE OF the general election is not even officially set, and so no posters can be erected, but you might notice a few familiar political faces staring down at you over the next few weeks.
Sinn Féin is erecting 15 billboards across the country with the tagline of ‘Better off with Sinn Féin’.
The first went up in Dublin this morning. However, Sinn Féin is building up momentum already for the election even if it isn’t until next year.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the party had been ready for an earlier vote.
“We would always have been building up for a November election,” he said, when asked about the timing of the billboards.
“You couldn’t be caught unaware.”
Even if it isn’t until the new year, we’ll be out campaigning. We have our candidates selected and they’re out on doorsteps already.
He added that the party’s posters have gone to print today.
Not everyone is impressed with the Sinn Féin billboards however, with Tánaiste Joan Burton questioning how the party paid for them.
“I was coming home on the quays last night and I saw very large billboards on behalf of Sinn Féin, ” she said.
The kind of billboards that a lot of political parties in the Republic find difficult to afford at election time, never mind at a time when an election is not immediately imminent.
The slogan on it is ‘Better off with Sinn Féin’. Can I say to Sinn Féin that we would be better off in Ireland if, in fact, the paramilitarism associated with Sinn Féin, and with the Provisional IRA, was brought to an end. That would really would be better off for the Irish people.
Another party’s posters were also in the headlines again this morning as Renua’s ‘rewarding work, rebuilding trust’ slogan was again questioned.
The Taoiseach said this was similar to his party’s own. A Renua party source told The Irish Times that it’s their own slogan, and their striking yellow posters will be remaining as they are.
- with reporting from Hugh O’Connell
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