Anger after election posters are erected around Westport

EUROPEAN election candidates have been urged to take down election posters which were erected on poles around Westport after an outcry from the local population.

Election posters started to pop up around the county today ahead of the local and European elections on June 7 as they are only allowed to be erected 30 days before polling.

However the erection of posters belonging to European election candidates including sitting MEP Maria Walsh of Fine Gael, Senator Lisa Chambers of Fianna Fáil and Independent Peter Casey on approach roads to Westport has caused anger locally as it is in breach of a local agreement that no election posters be erected around the town.

Independent councillor Christy Hyland, who recently called for all election posters to be banned, criticised the candidates and their teams for erecting the posters. He said he has been inundated with calls from people in Westport about the posters and called for them to be taken down immediately.

“I have been inundated with calls from people angry that these candidates have erected these election posters when they should know well that there has been a longstanding agreement that no posters should be erected around the town. This agreement has been in place since the days of the town council and has always been adhered to and it is disappointing these candidates should deface the approach roads with them. The council staff say that the phone has been ringing all day with people complaining about them.

“We all agreed that no posters go up around Westport and that agreement was made after consultation with the tidy towns many years ago. Since then there have been a number of elections without posters and nobody has missed them.

“In this day and age there is no need to have election posters. People might say that they introduce candidates to the public but if the public do not know them at this late stage they must not have been doing their work. There is no point in sharpening the sword when the drums of battle are beating,” Cllr Hyland said.

Local Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy who has also called for election posters to be banned said he has contacted his party colleague Senator Lisa Chambers who agreed to have them removed as soon as possible.

“It is disappointing that these posters have gone up when everyone knows that there is an agreement in Westport not to erect posters around the town,” he said.