A Socialist Emmet Stagg, complete with Starry Plough in 1989 . The issues mentioned and the organisations he is a member of tell us a lot about the time.
Emmet Stagg- Labour – Kildare 1989 October 14, 2009
Seamus Kirk, Dermot Ahern and Jimmy Mulroy Louth 1989 October 13, 2009
Seamus Kirk, Dermot Ahern and Jimmy Mulroy.
Seamus Kirk was amid his five year stay as Junior minister for Agriculture.
Jimmy Mulroy had been nominated to the Seanad in 1987.
It was Dermot Aherns second election. He had initially been elected in 1987 and two years later was already assistant chief whip.
Brid Smith -Socialist Workers Party -Dublin South Central 1997
Brid Smiths first electoral outing in 1997, where she gained 218 first preferences, the worst performance of the 4 SWP candidates in that election.
Fast forward to 2009 and she is elected easily ,146 first preferences away from the quota, in Ballyfermot-Drimnagh standing under the People before Profit banner.
Peter Barry , Hugh Coveney- Fine Gael -Cork South Central 1987
Peter Barry of Barrys Tea and Hugh Coveney, Two fine Fine Gael TDs for Cork South Central.
Peter Barry served from 1969 until 1997 as a TD spending a period as Tainiste in 1987. His Father Anthony Barry was also a TD as is his daughter Deirdre Clune, which makes the Barrys another Irish Political dynasty.
Hugh Coveney was elected to the Dail in 1981, lost his seat on two occasions, regaining it at the next available opportunity. He passed away after a cliff fall in 1998. His son Simon Coveney won the resulting by-election. In 2007 both Coveney and Clune won seats for Fine Gael in Cork South Central, 26 years after both their fathers first represented the same constituency.
Also included is Garrets message to the electorate with pictures of Garret meeting the electorate.
Vision, With Purpose -Fine Gael 2002 October 12, 2009
Saw this and it bought back memories of the 2002 election, when Fine Gael were decimated. Each house would have got this in the run up to the election. I can visualize Michael Noonan saying ‘I want to see our public services become the envy of Europe’…..
… and wasn’t “Vision, With Purpose” one of the worst slogans ever.
So whilst Fine Gael had Michael Noonan witha shocking slogan, Fianna Fail had the blue eyed Bertie with ‘A lot done, more to do’
‘Dana’ Rosemary Scallon – 1997 Presidential Election Leaflet
The 1997 Presidential Election was Dana’s first election. She finished third polling over 175,000 first preferences. Encouraged by that performance she was elected an MEP for Connaught-Ulster in 1999. She then contested Galway West in 2002 but fared badly. In 2004 she lost her European Parliament seat being eliminated before the final count.
She didn’t actually say much on this leaflet, although voters would have known her conservative views.
Tadhg Colbert, James Larkin, Hugh Dorrian, Jim Lynch- Independent Fianna Fail -Letterkenny UDC 1985 October 11, 2009
Tadhg Colbert, James Larkin, Hugh Dorrian and Jim Lynch. An Interesting bunch here. Unusual to see a candidates name have two different spellings. Tadhg Colbert on the front, Tadgh Culbert on the back. He later joined Fianna Fail and stood for them in the 1994 UDC elections.
James Larkin was Neil T Blaneys director of elections. He had also been a member of the Seanad, nominated as part of the deal for Independent Fianna Fail TD Neil T Blaney to support the 1982 Haughey government. Whilst not quite the headline grabber the Gregory deal was, this was the one and only time the Independent Fianna Fail party had a seat in the Seanad.
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Rosaleen McDonagh – Seanad Trinity 2002
Rosaleen McDonagh, the first Traveller to seek election to the Seanad. Rosaleen McDonagh stood in both the 2002 and 2007 Seanad elections. Whilst not being close to winning a seat, she finished far ahead of many candidates on both occasions.
Alan Shatter -Dublin South 1987
Not quite the fancy stuff he produces now! At least it was a proper ‘Sorry I missed you’ rather than the pre printed ones we get now.
Brian Hayes – “Say No to Single Party Government” 2002 October 10, 2009
This is interesting in that it wasn’t just the PDs who were saying no to one party government in 2002, it was Fine Gael too. Funny thing is this was out before the PDs poster campaign
Here we had a case of two parties saying the exact same thing, but reading the PD posters they implied keeping their few TDs in government as ‘watchdogs’, whilst FG were looking for an anti Fianna Fail vote.
On the back we have his achievements and Stanley Lang urging votes for Brian.
Thank You – Conor Lenihan 2002
A ‘Thank You’ card arrives on the doorstep…. you open it to see who is thanking you…. Conor Lenihans mug pops out.
Support Palestine Demo for Ireland vs Israel game in 2005 October 9, 2009
4th of June 2005 and Ireland take on Israel at soccer, a two all draw which costs us dearly in our qualification hopes for the World Cup. This leaflet was to advertise a protest and ways to protest at the game.
The leaflet was issued by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Adi Roche -1997 Presidential Election October 8, 2009
Adi Roche, the highly respected Founder of The Chernobyl Children’s Project ran in the 1997 Presidential election. She had been nominated by the Labour Party, Democratic Left and Green Party.
She was expected to do well and was an early favourite to replace Mary Robinson. However stories of Bullying by a former workmate surfaced during the campaign and her chance went.
John Noonan- Sinn Fein 1984 European elections Dublin
This is unusual in that at the time Sinn Fein were Anti EEC. It details the reasons why Ireland should withdraw. It was only 11 years since we had joined. Some of the images are big, I’ve tried to pare them down whilst still making them readable.
Eric Byrnes Lotto -Local Elections 2004
Eye catching leaflet from Eric Byrne on house prices and the money being made by developers . It made a lot of sense at the time . Although what those houses are worth now is anyones guess.
Mary O’Riordan -Seanad 2007
The leaflet of Mary O’Riordan, sister of John O’Donoghue, in her bid for the Seanad in 2007.
Michael Gleeson – South Kerry Independent Alliance (SKIA) 2009 October 7, 2009
Another small party – The South Kerry Independent Alliance (SKIA). Its been running since 1995 at least. As far as I know, ex Kerry footballer, Michael Gleeson has been its only successful candidate to date.
South Kerry Independent Alliance was formed by ex Labour members in South Kerry, Gleeson is a former Labour Party member. This is just a flyer I shall put up the full SKIA doc in due course.
Frank Dobbs -Progressive Democrat Sligo-Leitrim 1987
Frank Dobbs flyer from 1987 in Sligo Leitrim. The text is as corny as you’ll get.
What’s unusual is that four years later in the 1991 Local elections Frank Dobbs stood for Declan Brees Sligo-Leitrim Independent Socialist Organisation.
Some conversion….
Irish Election Literature 
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