A BILL THAT seeks to regulate and reduce the use of election posters will be delayed until next summer at the earliest.
Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly published the bill this week, with the government tabling an amendment that will see the second stage reading of the bill take place in June 2023.
The government has said that its proposed Electoral Commission will also look at the question of political posters and that Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is therefore not in a position to support the Green Party bill at this present time.
“The Electoral Reform Bill 2022, which will commence committee stage in the Dáil shortly, includes the establishment of an Electoral Commission, which will be tasked with examining the use of posters during elections,” a government spokesperson said.
Speaking to The Journal, O’Reilly said the minister has said her bill will be used as a basis for the Electoral Commissions considerations on the matter.
Asked whether the regulations could be in place for scheduled local elections in 2024, O’Reilly said this would “depend on how much push back there is”.
“Certainly in the Seanad, Sinn Fein weren’t in favour of any kind of restrictions and there are different views within government parties,” she said.
The senator’s bill seeks to restrict the use of posters to designated areas that can be set by a local authority.
Speaking in the Seanad this week, O’Reilly said:
It would prevent the current practice of attaching election materials to every lamppost, road bridge and electricity pole. Instead, it establishes designated areas where election and referendum materials can be placed during campaigns. This would enable the public to go and receive information on all candidates running in an election or information on both sides of a referendum.
The senator described the designated areas to The Journal as having “billboards put up that everyone can then have their poster on that board”.
As well as the environmental saving from the reduced use of plastic, O’Reilly claimed the restrictions would also be “fairer for independent candidates and candidates from smaller parties”, who have less resources to put up posters.
In the Seanad, however, Sinn Féin Senator Fintan Warfield said that posters “ensure that the electorate is aware an election is on” and that restricting their use would “give an advantage to incumbents”.
“New candidates struggle to get their names out there. It takes time to build a social media presence and they may have to contend with an echo chamber,” he said.
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