Sir, – Forget about banning posters. We should ban canvassing. Candidates wandering the streets talking to people at election time are obviously not spending enough time on their Sipo forms. – Yours, etc,
MICK LYNCH,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.
Council to run the rule over Portobello house revival as Hugh Wallace deviates from the plan
The Guildford Four’s Paddy Armstrong: ‘People thought I was going to be bitter and twisted when I came out of prison’
The 2 Johnnies Christmas Party at 3Arena: It’s easy to sneer at the triteness and crudeness, but are 13,000 happy fans wrong?
Father’s U-turn in a will left son who took care of him with a pittance
Sir, – Peter Declan O’Halloran calls for the use of election posters to be brought to an end since “we now know how much money the taxpayer would save” (Letters, January 26th). In actual fact, if posters were banned, the taxpayer wouldn’t save a single cent.
Under the Electoral Acts, election posters (and all other election expenses) must be funded entirely by political parties and candidates from their own private fundraising. It is precisely because of this requirement that the ridiculous non-issue of small donations to Paschal Donohoe in relation to his posters has become such a problem.
While it sounds sensible to suggest that election advertising should be done online, the unfortunate and unspoken reality is that if there were no election posters a sizeable proportion of the electorate wouldn’t know that an election was even taking place.
And, in our multi-seat constituency system with Dáil and council boundaries which shift every five years, even well-informed voters would have trouble knowing who their local candidates are.
Until we change our electoral system from one which is highly localised and personality-based, to something like the list systems used across Europe where people vote for parties rather than individual candidates, posters are here to stay. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH
Clontarf
Dublin 3.
Sir, – Could it be that the mutual recognition by both Fine Gael and Sinn Féin of a similar shared characteristic, ie the frailty of memory, is the first step in a burgeoning romance? – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.
Sir, – Senator Michael McDowell (Independent) writes: “An independent or new party candidate will struggle to get any coverage in national broadcast media for the fact they are running, for who they are, and what they stand for. The print media are unlikely to give them much oxygen either” (“It seems grotesque that Sinn Féin should raise the issue of political donations at all”, Opinion & Analysis, January 25th).
Unless, of course, they are fortunate enough to be given a weekly column in a national newspaper. – Yours, etc,
MARY BYRNE,
Dublin 8.