24/07/08

Green Party Castleknock candidate, Roderic O’Gorman, has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, that he is undertaking a public consultation about the use of posters at elections and during referenda.

“I’m very pleased that John Gormley is undertaking a public consultation about the use of posters during elections and referenda. During the General Election when myself and my team were putting up my posters, I was approached by many people saying that election posters in general were an eyesore. I think many people will welcome this move by John Gormley to introduce some restrictions on their use”, stated Roderic O’Gorman.

“I know that one issue of particular concern to a lot of residents in Dublin 15 is the fact that when posters are being taken down, many party’s don’t remove the cable-ties that attach the posters to lamp posts. These look really unsightly, and as they are made of plastic, the last a long time. Indeed, I remember putting up posters this election and finding cable-ties from previous elections on lamp posts”.

“My own preference would be the system they use in France. Each town or village sets aside a space where each candidate is allowed put up one poster or manifesto. That way, voters are able to inform themselves of the candidates and their politics, but the potential for litter is minimized”.

“Submissions are invited from all interested individuals and organisations by 15 September 2008, either by email to electionposters@environ.ie or by post to Election Poster Consultation, Environment Policy Section, Department of Environment, Heritage & Local Government, Ardcavan Business Park, Wexford Town, Co. Wexford”.

“Already, some of the opposition parties are criticising the suggestion that there should be a limit on election posters. I would suggest to people who think election posters are over used that they should make a submission and let their views be heard”, concluded Roderic O’Gorman.

Ends

Further Information
Roderic O’Gorman: 087 417 9777
rodericogorman@gmail.com

The report of the Dublin & Cities Electoral Boundary Commission was published this afternoon and is available here.

On the positive side, it is great to see that the Dublin 15 area is being given an extra representative, which will mean we now have 9 councillors between the Mulhuddart and Castleknock wards. Our area was severely underrepresented compared to other parts of Fingal as pointed out in the submission I made to the Commission. It is good to see that this issue has now been addressed.

I was somewhat surprised to see the new boundaries that the Commission has created for the Mulhuddart and Castelknock wards. In particular, by adding all areas north of Lucan including Laraghcon to the Mulhuddart ward, the Commission has created a large and somewhat unwieldy ward, stretching all the way from the Ashbourne Road to the banks of the Liffey. Even though Mulhuddart is to receive an extra councillor, it is still going to be a large area for the elected representatives to cover.

Nevertheless, the key issue is that the boundary review has addressed the fact that Dublin 15 was severely underrepresented compared to the rest of Fingal and this has to be welcomed. It will be interesting to see what effects the new boundaries have on candidate selections over the coming months.