Wexford poles braced for barrage of election posters as stances change – ‘You can’t give your opponent an advantage’

While it seems there’s no definitive connection between faces on poles and climbing the polls, Wexford, like every other county, is bracing itself for the imposing sight of election posters as far as the eye can see.

When running as an independent five years ago, Sinn Féin candidate Davy Hynes led calls for a poster-free election. However, now being part of a bigger party machine, and with said party footing the bill, he regards posters as an inevitability.

"It was the decision of the party to put up posters,” he said. “If re-elected, I’ll push to change this. The thing about our posters is that all of them are re-useable and will be used again.

"The problem is that it’s very hard to get rid of posters if everyone isn’t on board. You can’t give your opponent an advantage. Sustainability should be something we all buy into. I managed to get elected the last time without posters, but I don’t know if that cost me votes or not.

"Regardless, our posters are re-useable and as far as I’m concerned there’s little or no damage to the environment.”

Meanwhile, sitting independent councillor and election hopeful Leonard Kelly has re-affirmed his commitment to running without glossy, new Corriboard posters, and believes he is the only candidate in the Wexford Borough District to do so.

"Five years ago I used only recycled materials and paints,” he said. “The only posters I had were recycled Corriboard and ones that were created by my family, which I’ll be using again. I had no more than ten posters and this time will be the same.

"In a day and age where candidates have social media, as well as print media and radio, to get their message out, putting up hundreds of posters just feels like it’s from a different age.”

Cllr Kelly previously tabled a motion calling for a ban on plastic corriboard election posters in the Wexford Borough District and the establishment of “designated zones” where candidates can present images and information “in a controlled and environmentally responsible way”.

It could be pointed out, however, that Cllr Kelly has used election posters himself in the past, when contesting a general election for the Social Democrats.

"I think at that time, we put up around 15 in total,” he said. “Some candidates have put up pictures on social media with stacks of posters. There must be hundreds.

"In any case, that’s going back around eight years and anything I use now is recycled or hand painted on pieces of wood.

"This may well place me at a disadvantage, but I think it would be nice if everyone got together to reduce the plastic waste that we see around elections.”