ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER election poster controversy.
After Renua and Fine Gael candidates got dragged into minor storms over inappropriate posting of election material in recent days, today it’s the turn of Sinn Féin.
According to Fine Gael councillor, and general election hopeful for Dublin North West, Noel Rock there are currently “more than 50 posters” featuring Gerry Adams festooned around Dublin’s city centre, and they’ve been there since Tuesday last, 29 December.
The posters are advertising a meeting regarding the 1916 Rising, to take place next Thursday 7 January.
The problem is that that date is more than seven days from when the posters were put up (nine actually), which is against littering rules as regards such political advertising.
“It is littering, and they’re liable for that,” Rock told TheJournal.ie.
They’re all over the city centre, on Parnell Square, Parnell Street, Nassau Street, Kildare Street, St Stephen’s Green.
When contacted for comment on the situation a Sinn Féin spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that the event “will celebrate the 1916 proclamation; a revolutionary document of its time which lays out the principles of an Irish republic based on equality and unity”.
At a time of rising inequality and homelessness, it is no surprise that the only contribution from a Fine Gael councillor is to complain about a poster.
Rock claims that at 50 posters, with a littering fine of €125 for each one, Sinn Féin should be liable for a penalty of €6,250 payable to Dublin City Council (DCC).
“The rules are clear for these public meetings – posters can go up one week beforehand, and then they have to come down again within a week of the meeting,” says Rock.
Sinn Féin have played the offside trap here. They know full well that the offices of DCC are closed at this time of year, and they expect that they won’t get fined.
I think it’s terrible form, it’s cynical, and the kind of negative politics that people don’t want to see any more. They did it because they knew they could.
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