Updated 10 December 11.45am.
BOXES OF SINN Féin newsletters, posters, leaflets and other promotional material were dumped in a forest in Rathangan Co Kildare.
The rubbish includes newsletters, election campaign material, posters, leaflets, notices and other branded material.
It also included leaflets and posters of Sinn Féin members including Kathleen Funchion, Michael Colreavy, and Brian Stanley – who is the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Climate Change and the Environment.
In a statement, Stanley told TheJournal.ie, “A man called our offices stating some Sinn Féin election material has been disposed of at a forest. Party material had been taken during the election including posters.
Within one hour, Sinn Féin members called to the site and found election material and immediately removed all of it and photographed the site. Sinn Féin members did not dump this material.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said “The leaflets shouldn’t have been dumped, and were not dumped by any Sinn Féin members.
As soon as the members became aware of it they went to the site themselves and cleared it all up.
Although a local says that when the returned to the area, only the Sinn Féin material had been removed, the party says that it cleared all the rubbish that had been dumped with the Sinn Féin material.
The spokesperson said, “Sinn Féin members cleaned up the Sinn Féin material that was dumped there.
This is an area that sees a lot of illegal dumping. Sinn Féin members are not responsible for cleaning up the area.
Stanley added that the same man contacted the offices the next day stating Sinn Féin material was still there.
Party members again inspected the site and found Sinn Féin material and removed it. They again photographed the site.
Stanley said this activity was reported to Kildare County Council.
TheJournal.ie has contacted Coillte and Kildare County Council for comment on the incident.
Additional reporting by Cliódhna Russell.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say