With the General Election ahead, posters are flying up all over Ireland – with post boxes filled to the brim with leaflets and campaign materials.

Some, however, have argued against the need for the volume of material put out.

On Lunchtime Live, listener John from Galway said election paraphernalia is ‘an environmental disaster waiting to happen’.

“[Election posters] are biodegradable – if you’ve got 400 years to spare,” he said.

“It’s not like you can put them on your compost heap and then use them in 18 months to grown plants with.”

John said while he finds the leaflets more informative, they are often still wasteful.

“There’s a Senator running in Dublin – she's put out a leaflet [that] is absolutely massive,” he said.

“It’s two pages of A4 paper, it’s plastic coated, and I’m thinking: ‘Could you not have put that in bullet points?’"

Election posters outside Government Buildings in 2020. Image: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

Canvasser Vince from Cork said he sees election posters as essential to election efforts.

“I believe that postering is necessary – and not only is it necessary, I think it’s a good and it’s a positive part of the election process,” he said.

“The postering gives a new candidate an opportunity to present themselves, to introduce themselves – and people are visual.

“You’ll have noticed that the most prominent features of an election poster are the face and the name.

“When you go into the voting booth, what you would be presented with are the face and the name – and so the more familiar you are with somebody, the more inclined you are to view that somebody as a positive.

“Compared to viewing somebody for the very first time – so they’re very important for undecideds.”

A fair game

Iconic Media journalist Donna Flynn said the most important element of canvassing is that all candidates ‘play by the book’.

“There has been attention paid around the rules of it,” she said. “Like candidates having posters up before the dissolution of the Dáil, which is against election rules.”

“Arguments that have been put forward by smaller parties and by locals is that maybe parties that have more funding, that are able to afford the fines, are more likely to break the rules.

“Whereas smaller parties are at a disadvantage maybe with less funding, and they’re not in a position to do so.”

Donna said that while social media campaigns have become more impressive in recent years, posters and leaflets are still important for reaching those that are not online.

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