Politicians scramble to replace posters after Storm Hannah ‘massacre’

Candidates in the upcoming local and European elections have spent Saturday scrambling to place their posters back on poles following Storm Hannah.

Gusts of 122km/h were recorded at Mace Head in Galway and 119km/h at Shannon Airport on Friday night.

Dublin city councillor Mannix Flynn said he spent Saturday morning fixing his posters back onto poles.

“Nobody wants anyone to get injured so this means candidates need to make sure our posters are in an orderly manner,” the Independent councillor said.

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“The posters tend to slip down or get blown off when there are strong winds. I realigned two other candidates’ posters that had slipped right down.

“I would ask the public to report any posters that have fallen and candidates to tell each other. It’s our responsibility to make sure they’re correctly maintained.”

Una Power, Green party candidate for Killiney-Shankill said she was missing a "handful" of posters following Storm Hannah.

“There’s been a bit of a massacre of election posters following the wind. I took down one [poster] that was completely dangerous, it was starting to hang and flutter a bit.

“I found a few that were down but there’s a handful completely missing so I’m searching high and low for them, I haven’t found them yet.

“There’s a few other [candidates’] posters down, with some hanging, I’ve spotted a few other candidates picking up their posters.”

Dublin City Council said it had a team out working this weekend, cleaning up election posters in "inappropriate places", including those which were blown down due to the strong gusts.

Local authorities are responsible for the removal of posters which constitute a hazard to either pedestrians or road users. Any election/referendum posters in place before or after the stipulated timeframe can face an on-the-spot litter fine of €150. There are several restrictions around the erection of posters, and they cannot be placed too close to the ground, or on ESB electricity poles for safety reasons.

A council spokeswoman was unable to say on Saturday whether candidates could face fines in relation to posters that are blown down due to severe weather conditions.