PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES have given a mixed reaction to a call by retired sports commentator Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh for a poster ban during the election campaign.
Mr Ó Muircheartaigh, who has decided not to stand in the election, said yesterday that if he were a candidate he would be advocating a “no poster” campaign.
Businessman and RTÉ Dragons Den panellist Seán Gallagher said he favoured a ban on posters and called on other candidates to reach agreement on not using them.
However, Labour’s Michael D Higgins said posters were a traditional part of the electoral process and played a significant role in creating awareness among the public.
He said Labour intended to conduct a postering campaign but would ensure they were removed within seven days of the election.
Mr Higgins said that, unlike election literature paid for by the taxpayer, the cost of posters is borne by the candidates.
Mr Gallagher, however, said he saw “great merit” in the idea. “There are many outlets in which we can communicate our message without plastering unsightly posters on every telegraph pole in our cities, towns and rural areas.”
Mr Gallagher last week proposed a single mailing to voters outlining candidates’ platforms instead of individual leaflet, in order to save money.
Special Olympics founder Mary Davis said she had yet to decide on the issue.
Elaborating yesterday on his decision not to stand, Mr Ó Muircheartaigh said he had never expressed an interest in being a candidate but had agreed to consider it out of respect for the people who had asked him to run.
His initial reaction was not to get involved, he told RTÉ. He declined to outline his contacts with political parties, but said increasing numbers of people were raising the issue with him and he was anxious to end speculation.
The former broadcaster said he was in favour of the presidency but believed that those elected to the position should distance themselves from the party to which they had previously belonged, just as Mary Robinson had.
The position should be open to all and the nomination process should be changed to make it easier for people not involved in politics to stand.
Asked if the post had been devalued by speculation around Gay Byrne and himself standing, Mr Ó Muircheartaigh said broadcasters were just as entitled as anyone else to seek a nomination.
Meanwhile MEP Gay Mitchell called on candidates to say where they stand on the death penalty.
Letters written by the Fine Gael candidate in which he called for prisoners to be taken off death row in the US have been the focus of scrutiny after Senator David Norris withdrew because of representations he made on behalf of a man convicted of statutory rape.
The other candidates said they were opposed to the death penalty.