TODAY IS THE final day for referendum posters to be removed before campaign groups become subject to fines.

From tomorrow, posters which urged people to vote yes or no in last Friday’s referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment will be classed as litter and will be subject to an on-the-spot litter fine of €150.

Under section 19 of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 and the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009, posters must be removed within seven days of polling day.

Any referendum posters in place after the time frame are deemed to be in breach of the legislation.

The responsibility for enforcement of litter law lies with the local authority so, after today, any posters still up can be reported to a local authority.

Representatives from both yes and no groups told TheJournal.ie that they are confident that they will have all their posters removed within the time frame.

”We’re on track to have them all down, we will have them down by tomorrow,” a spokesperson for LoveBoth said.

A spokesperson for Together for Yes said:

“We are on track and our contractor is working hard at taking them down currently.”

South Dublin County Council said that groups involved in last Friday’s referendum have to remove all posters including plastic ties and any posters which may have fallen to the ground.

The council also said that referendum posters could be recycled free of charge at the Ballymount recycling facility for the next 10 days.

In Leitrim, the county council has given campaigners until Tuesday to remove posters because of the bank holiday.

“Litter wardens will be out and issuing fines for any poster left up by next Tuesday,” Senior Engineer Darragh O’Boyle at Leitrim County Council has warned.

O’Boyle said the posters must be removed seven days from the vote, and with next Monday being a Bank Holiday the campaigners have an extra day to avoid any fines.

According to a recent Claire Byrne Live/Amarach Research poll, 74% of people said yes to banning referendum posters in the future.

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