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A CANDIDATE IN the local elections said his children were upset when they saw his eyes blacked out on some of his posters while they were driving to a football match at the weekend.
Eugene Murphy is running for Fianna Fáil in Roscommon and is one of several candidates across the country who have had posters defaced since putting them up last week.
The defaced posters have black paint where Murphy’s eyes should be.
Murphy is refusing to take down or replace his defaced posters “for someone else to destroy”.
“I challenge those who deface posters to put their own name on the ballot paper,” said Murphy.
Separately, Alan Toibin, a first time candidate for Fine Gael said both his and Fianna Fáil candidate Sean Smith’s posters were “cut down with knives or scissors” and were the only candidates targeted in the area.
Toibin said the posters in Ashbourne, Meath were taken down in “weird” circumstances and has his own suspicions about who is responsible.
Fianna Fáil candidate Paddy McKee’s posters in Kilkenny were defaced with homophobic slurs. McKee said he was “disappointed” when he first saw the posters, but “felt sorry” for the views that were “born out of ignorance”.
McKee came out publicly on local radio before declaring as a candidate and sees it as “a personal attack” on his sexuality. The posters have been taken down and will be replaced with even more posters as he plans to redouble his efforts.
“The views aren’t shared by the majority of people in Kilkenny or in this country”, he said.
The words used to deface his posters raises concerns about the debate surrounding the upcoming marriage equality referendum, according to McKee, where “both sides will need to be very careful with the language used”.
Kevin O’Higgins, legal adviser to the Fine Gael Party said there is little legal action candidates can take over defaced posters “unless you have proof”.
“It is private property…probably not a criminal act, more of a civil thing,” he said.
All candidates spoken to called on the culprits to refrain from destroying posters and to instead contact them if they wished to air their grievances.
Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan also had what appears to be a rolled up cigarette stuck onto one of his election posters in Ballaghaderreen, Roscommon where he is running for a seat in the European elections.
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Their posters are defacing the countryside, and we’re forced to look at their ugly mugs,
The Brian Hayes poster is cute, I defo would. Would you? Those there them teeth mmmmmmm nice .
Mick the Bull would call you a “quaaaaaaaaaaareeee”!
Place them higher up the lamp posts
2.2 metres off the ground. Most of us would need a ladder to reach them.
Spot on. Sorry but this widespread trend is simply a sign of the times, ie an open expression of the unprecedented levels of political disillusionment, frustration and animosity felt by the population in the wake of the litany of broken promises by Fine Gael and Labour. Many people are apathetic or ambivalent about ever voting again after the damage they have done; what’s the point??Sure didn’t fat Rabitte openly admit On national tv, ‘thats what you do in an election’?? Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. Well done lads.
Well at least nobody defaced Luke Flanagan’s poster.
Most are ridiculous and offence, but the Luke Flanagan one is hilarious sorry. :)
It is Steven. Can’t keep a straight face looking at it. It worse when you zoom in on him.
A bunch of chancers. The father in law works for the council. He said to one of his bosses that his friends road is a disgrace with pot holes and they only got a new car and they said they really wanted the holes filled. The boss told him to go out and fix it. Forward a few days and the said friends are up in the local pub saying it’s a great job the pot holes were filled. The local county councillor was beside her and proclaimed he had sorted that out for her. Pure lies! She tackled him that he was lying that my father in law had sorted it. He then went on to belittle him saying he was only a lowly council worker and had no power to do that. He has lost about 2 dozen votes over this lie. Pure opportunists!
I must say, a vast improvement on their ugly, pasty faced, mugs.
And imagine Pierce Brosnan is Irish ehh.
Yea the Ming one is a classic. And also I can’t help daydreaming about the Fiddlers Elbow, what the foods like the pints the craic ;)
These new wannabes politicans are soft skinned, posters always get a “make under ” . If defacing a poster upsets them, then politics isn’t the career for them.
Except he’s been around as a politician, councillor and Shannonside radio presenter for donkey’s years. Just as bad, if not worse, are the FG people cutting down Independents posters and replacing them with their own. In some of the documented cases being so lazy they aren’t even bothering to take the old one down, just sticking theirs over it.
And a god awful presenter at that. I rem him playing a john lennon song last year on his anniversary and he made no mention of it as he obviously hadnt a clue.
Murphy is a real buffoon. This is the chap his own party don’t even want but when the traitors realised there might be a seat in it, they brought him back into the fold (http://www.boyletoday.com/murphy-gets-nomination-for-boyle/). Imagine, he was that desperate for a seat he went off and collected a thousand signatures in support.
I think the posters should be banned full stop. At the same time I do not think homophobic slurs sprawled across them should not be treated as flippantly as you Niamh. I’m sure McKee is thick skinned, but what about members of his family? What about young lads in his area who may be questioning their sexuality and they see one of these posters? I don’t think it’s helpful from The Journal either to go and re publish the poster.
There seems to be a double standard in this country. On the one hand there’s a big push to promote positive mental health, help people with depression to come forward and speak about their problems. We have had a prominent Gaa star ‘come out’ in recent years and receive great support which is all very positive. On the other hand then abuse of a persons sexuality on a public forum such as an election poster is deemed acceptable to some just because they are a politician. It’s a funny one.
Well said !
I think because politicians are so insincere and shameless you tend to forget that they’re human.
Ah boo hoo. How about putting the poster money into the community instead of throwing it on lampposts for everyone to ignore.
I though about defacing a few FF election posters myself with the word traitors across it. The only thing hold me back would be if I got caught I’d probably be convicted of some criminal offence and would likely get a more severe sentence than two bankers got on Tuesday.
Is it illegal though? They broke the rules putting them up early. There’s 1 I saw yesterday blocking a speed limit sign. The rules don’t seem to apply to them. Deface away I say!
Each candidate should be allowed put up one poster, outside the polling station on polling day only. Let’s stop this ugly blight polluting our countryside, ban the posters.
Best bit of publicity these candidates are ever likely to get. They must be secretly delighted . If the posters weren’t defaced nobody would even notice them.
The Ming poster is super, but in general these things are an eyesore. surely in this digital age there has to be an alternative to littering the countryside with mug shots.
What age are Eugene Murphy’s Kids? He looks like he’s the best part of 60.
I find politicians offensive!
This has always happened, I remember posters being defaced when I was a child. Who actually cares? And as another comment already stated, if the candidates find poster defacement this insulting, they are playing the wrong game. It’s just teenagers up to a bit of mischief. It would be a different story if their homes were being targeted but it’s just campaign posters.
Here’s an idea. Take down a few posters of a party you hate and keep them in your shed. Then a few weeks after the election put them back up resulting in a fine for the party! Presto!
I personally find the whole idea of election posters idiotic…. Why do you need to strap every lamppost in the country with with a cheesy grinning portrait of yourself, does that actually win you any votes from anyone other than the dumbest idiot who has no idea what they’re actually voting for?
Not enough to go out and doodle all over them mind, but if I was a bored immature teenager with nothing to do on your average weeknight.
I don’t condone defacing election posters and think people doing it are wasting their time in a pointless exercise.
However the ‘Ming’ poster is priceless!!! “Suits you sir”
Ban Posters! The posters themselves are far more unsightly than the gravity on them.
It just goes to prove.
You can’t turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse…
No matter how artistic you think you are…
Ming must be delighted with the addition to his poster. Publicity you can’t buy and we all know where he stands on the issue!
This is a joke is it. Sick to my teeth with this election already. How do we go about getting these posters banned.
A rolled up cigarette?
Yes. That’s what it was…
I remember one a few years ago for Mary Harney with the strap line “don’t let it all go to waste” or something similar. Some genius wrote underneath…”Mary will eat it”
Could I have a packet of twenty Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan Number Ones please?!
Another reason why election posters should be banned!
If this is upsetting them so much they will not last long as politicians…
Brilliant
The posters serve no purpose and should be banned. It seems a very backward and “small time” thing to me. Oh doesn’t he look like a lovely man, I’ll vote for him. Posters are banned in Australia and it works great, although there are very annoying sensationalist TV ads which are nearly as bad!
But isn’t every ad on TV in Australia frighteningly sensationalist? :-) Need only see a Harvey Norman ad here to imagine what it must be like there.
TV in Australia is shocking. The Sullivans was about the pinacle of it. *joking* *kind of**
If politicians put the posters at the legal minimum height of 2.5m above ground level they wouldn’t have a problem with this. Serves them right for littering the country.
Only in roscommon!
Paddy McKee looks like a young Joey Barton.
Enough reason not to vote!
Put up pictures of your ugly sly looking face and it will be defaced.
Anyone with a Fianna Fáil logo or wording has defaced their own poster and us effectively giving us the fingers.
It should be illegal to fix posters to lampposts, telephone or electricity poles or pylons. I was in Paris recently prior to the local elections and the only political posters I saw were on official notice boards, on paid for sites and glued on places such as building site hoardings. Candidates can use social media, the internet, twitter, Facebook, newspapers, public meetings, house to house and telephone canvassing, leaflet drops, car window stickers, posters displayed on private property and many other ways of promoting themselves and their policies and candidacies. It is time Irish politics grew up and entered the 21st century in this respect.
Actually reading the posts here it seems to me that the vast majority of the population would support a total ban on posters ! So let’s each one of us go out this morning and remove the poster that is closest to our own home irrespective of which candidate is featured on it ?!?!??
Shouldn’t have put them so low.
Grow a pair and I’m not talking about eyes , boi
Ban posters and have RTE put a scrolling ticker tape of candidate names, faces and party at the bottom of the TV screen for 2 weeks. Posters are the dumbest form of advertising.
FG and Labour have stood watch will sick people have medical cards taken away, autistic children are denied an education, victims of the FF crash are evicted from family homes and poverty is spreading like a plague; and their candidates whinge about a few defaced posters.
More empathy and less empty – head talk please FG, LAB or FF.
There are a lot of posters in the knocklyon, Jobstown area of Dublin with sprayed bullet wounds to the forehead. Little bit sinister but you’d hope it’s just teenagers messing.
That first one is just creepy looking.
The defacing of posters has been happening with years.. Why all of a sudden is is classes racist ( as in yesterday’s news) humiliating , insulting and or upsetting
I think all of the above and more could apply to every politician in this country
Maybe it’s because your decisions have screwed the working man
Their only out to get what they can for themselves which is a nice fat wage and a fine old pension to match
Their nothing but greedy individuals who are normally two faced , promise you the sun moon and stars and when they get elected pass you on the street ” people” !
I’m not in favour of this type of action but I have had arguments will all canvassers about posters in general. They are unnecessary and should be banned altogether.
I think the first one is quite artistic actually….it seems to represent that he has no eyes to see what is really wrong with the country, which makes him sad….and as a result, he is crying tears of blackness…
Maybe they are finally getting the message … And after watching the late late show last night & seeing what the establishment did to tom gilmartin with Fianna Fáil @ the helm ….
Only good to come of posters was seeing a kid use one as a toboggan in d last ‘big snow’ obvo had it in storage
Its upsetting for my kids that I can barely afford to buy them shoes and these feckers are complaining urggghhh
Hey, ming
Hey, the Ming poster is hilarious but it isn’t defaced. The fake spliff is his own poster tie!do you get to feature in the article for defacing your own poster?
A *rolled up cigarette* or a joint as most people would say.
When we were kids they allowed canvassing up to the polling station door. We thought we were hilarious putting Vote FF stickers on FG hoardings and vice versa.
If they don’t want posters defaced then put them up high enough.
while im not saying defacing posters is right, should FF be surprised, after the brass neck they have shown by actually looking for votes. did they really think the electorate would forget the past and welcome them back with open arms, wake up FF, most voters cant stand what you represent.
I was under the impression that the law said that these posters have to be 2.1m high so do we have a load of tall guys going around or have they got ladders. Or could it just be that these posters where below the legal height
What a moany bunch of little idiotic muppets. You wouldn’t see it come from a 5 year old. “Waaah my poster has been defaced waaaaaah” it’s a fckin poster get over your selves. If I seen myself been defaced on a poster I would laugh at it and move on with my life.
Build a bridge if ur elected ul hear worse said about u
Madge has a lot to say about posters! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDyyfDwdMdA
Councillor Eugene Murphy has never looked better.
Awwwwww, Eugene – you poor little mite!!!
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