Mayo observations on the great election posters debate

"There is no point in sharpening the sword just when the drum beats for battle."

Those are the words of Westport Independent Councillor Christy Hyland in opposing the decision of local and European Parliament election candidates to erect posters in towns and villages across Mayo.

Westport Municipal District, of which Councillor Hyland is a member, adopted a motion last February calling for a ban on political party and non-political party candidates putting up posters.

As far as this writer is aware, similar motions were passed by a number of other municipal districts at the behest of Tidy Towns committees and other organisations involved in keeping their communities clean.

And while Councillor Hyland accepted the argument that outgoing councillors can willingly support the banning of posters because they have a huge advantage over new candidates whose names and faces are not as well known to the public, he made the point that it’s somewhat a sign of weakness by candidates opting to take that route.

His argument being that they should have been out in their communities and involved with their communities long before the date arrived on which posters could be put up.

Hence his quote: “There is no point in sharpening the sword just when the drum beats for battle.”

It is, in fairness, a valid observation.

But the reality is that there is no law against erecting posters - but there is a law to ensure they are taken down by a certain date and disposed of or recycled in a proper way.

That law, however, is not always implemented to the letter and posters and their tags are often left hanging on polls for months on end and can invariably be blown away in a storm and become a litter issue.

So those candidates erecting posters should be fully aware of their responsibilities and ensure they are all taken down on time and don’t end up being a problem for anybody.

We have also witnessed over the years posters being defaced, which is a totally unacceptable practice.

Those who choose to erect posters run that risk, of course.

While there are strong arguments to be made on both sides of the debate, one suspects election posters are no longer necessary in this digital age.

Apart from all of that, they can be a course of distraction to motorists, which is the biggest concern of all in an era when safety on our roads is of such paramount importance.