Mayo call for poster-free election campaign

A CALL has been issued for a poster-free election in Castlebar town centre.

In a statement, the local Tidy Towns Committee outlined:  "With the 2020 General Election announced yesterday, we were contacted overnight by members of the public and some candidates taking part to ask what is the stance of Castlebar Tidy Towns on posters.

"Our position is that we do not support any posters being erected in the Castlebar urban area, whether political or otherwise.

"This has been our policy over the last number of years and has been part of our application to the National Tidy Towns competition where we maintained our second gold medal in 2019.

"In 2018 a motion was passed unanimously by Castlebar Municipal District supporting a poster free zone across the municipal.

"We are also affiliated to PosterFree.ie

"Corrugated plastic, commonly known as Corriboard, is the material of choice for election posters.

Like other single use plastics, they take 400+ years to biodegrade.

"In many areas, these posters are a safety and driving hazard, often obscuring important road signage.

"Also, people who are visually impaired can be injured by low-lying posters or posters that have fallen down.

"We therefore respectfully ask that candidates refrain from erecting posters within the Castlebar district in the run up to the election on February 8.

"However, we do accept that there is no legal obligation on candidates to do so and any decision will be entirely theirs.

"We are delighted to see our colleagues in Westport Tidy Towns have issued a request to keep Westport poster-free also."