Independent Cllr Michael McBride has commended the Donegal County Council for their vigilance over election posters.
Michael McBride has praised the Donegal County Council for their vigilance over the positioning of election posters.
McBride, who is running a NO POSTER election campaign, praised the Council for following through with their insistence that if posters were positioned in dangerous locations, then they would be subsequently removed.
McBride raised concerns about the positioning of posters, after a number of complaints were made to him while he was out on the canvassing trail.
McBride told Donegal Daily, “I would like to commend Donegal County Council for their vigilance in acting to compel Local Election candidates to remove their posters from roundabouts in the Letterkenny-Milford Electoral Area.
“This is a prudent move by the Council as these posters are certainly a potentially dangerous distraction for drivers navigating roundabouts.
“As we know, it is now deemed unsafe to even hold a mobile phone whilst driving under new legislation, and I would certainly say that dozens of large multi-coloured electoral posters ringing railings at roundabouts also represent a hazard with the potential for collisions given the manner in which they have been placed.
McBride said he has seen posters placed at the Mountain Top roundabout side by side all along the railings of the roundabout.
“Do my fellow candidates seriously expect drivers to attempt to read these posters as they drive?
McBride praised the Council for removing dangerously placed posters last Thursday, and he said he has been reliably informed that candidates were lining up to reclaim their posters at the Council depot the next morning.
McBride added, “I was disappointed to then see many of these same candidates then cynically replace these same posters on other roundabouts, thereby, in my view, showing contempt for the Council’s authority and the potential road safety hazards.
“It seems certain candidates wish to force their posters on the public at all costs and are unconcerned about the consequences or the directives of Donegal County Council.
“As everybody knows, I am running a poster-free campaign and this sort of behaviour certainly re-enforces my belief that I have made the right decision in doing so.
McBride said he has yet to meet a single constituent whilst canvassing who has told me that they were sorry that I had no posters put up.
McBride concluded, “The word on the doorsteps is that the only people in the Letterkenny-Milford electoral area who are in favour of plastering posters everywhere are the candidates who put them up in the first place.
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