*Posters for Bill Slattery went up earlier than permitted across North Clare.
ELECTION mode kicked off in North Clare with one candidate in the Ennistymon local electoral area breaching the Litter Pollution Act by erecting posters early.
Lahinch candidate, Bill Slattery (FG) has been mounting a strong canvass and such was his eagerness with the campaign that he erected an estimated twenty posters before he was permitted to do so and so faces the risk of a €3000 fine.
Posters were only permitted to be erected in advance of the June 7th local and European elections as of midnight on Wednesday which is thirty days before the poll date.
In accordance with the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended, election posters and ties must be removed within 7 days after polling date. Failure to do so may result in prosecution. The associated fixing arrangement particularly plastic ties must be removed at the same time the poster is being removed.
Slattery’s posters were erected on Monday afternoon in Lahinch and Ennistymon, almost 32 hours prior to being permitted.
When contacted by The Clare Echo, Bill said, “I won’t make any comment on it”.
Members of Slattery’s canvassing team have said they got their dates wrong when putting them up on Monday and had not checked the legislation in advance but upon learning the error the posters stayed as they were.
Co-opted to Clare County Council in 2011 following Martin Conway’s (FG) election to the Seanad, Bill was successful in a competitive 2014 election when he secured 1,769 first preference votes.
In 2019, he was the only sitting councillor in Clare to lose their seat when first-time candidates Cllr Shane Talty (FF), Cllr Joe Killeen (FF), Senator Roisin Garvey (GP) and Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) claimed the four seats in the Ennistymon LEA.
Since then, he has been actively campaigning to win back the seat and has served on the Clare Joint Policing Committee.
Some of his opponents for the 2024 election have said the stunt in putting posters up early was “taking the piss” and “needless agitation”.
Ennistymon’s Denis Vaughan (LAB) told The Clare Echo, “we should all play by the rules”. He said he will be erecting posters but is waiting on them to arrive and that he was keen to comply with the regulations.
