From the 1987 General election in Dublin South West. He mentions an awful lot that came to pass, such the the Hospital, Luas, Town Centre and so on. He polled 5,086 votes and failed to win a seat. He was elected in 1989 though.
The leaflet itself is fading so had to play around with it to make it readable.
1987 Cork South Central Independent Candidate, the Late Charlie Hennessy (Charles Hennessy). Plenty of his proposals would be more than applicable now.
Hennessys obituary in the Examiner gives an idea of how well respected and thought of he was. He polled 1,585 votes.
The now Independent TD, Alice Glenn explains why she left Fine Gael or how Fine Gael left her. Today Alices views look a bit extreme , however in 1987 Alices views were mainstream enough. The Other Alice Glenn report I have from around the 1986 Divorce Referendum was published by a group called ‘Family Forum’, although not mentioned here the PO box address is the same as Alices here.
Alice Glenn was first elected to the Dail in 1981 before losing her seat in the Feb 82 election. She regained her seat in the November 1982 election and served until 1987 where running as an independent she lost her seat.
Many of the issues mentioned here by Ruairi Quinn are still happening today. Management Companies are still an area of contention , the country is crawling with unfinished buildings……
Barbara Hyland has stood multiple times in multiple elections, most notably in 1987 where she along with four other candidates stood for the National Legal Justice Action Group. NLJAG were campaigning against the Law Society, or rather the staus of the Law society as the ‘only avenue of complaint’ if you had ‘Suffered at the hands of the legal profession’.
They wanted an independent ombudsman.
She stood in 13 constituencies top vote of 217 in her home of Wicklow, lowest 33 in Dublin North West.
This is from 1989 where she stood in just Kerry South and Wicklow. She stood again in 1992, 1997 and 2002. She has various newspaper clips in the leaflet which may give you a better idea as to her motives.
She had stood previously in the Local Elections for Labour.
Letter from Tom Crilly and Andy Smith during the 1987 election campaign about the closure of Sir Patrick Dunns Hospital.
Andy Smith was a councillor at the time and a longstanding member of the Workers Party. Both candidates stayed with the Workers Party after the 1992 split and Crilly stood a number of times in Dublin South East and Local elections.
In this 1987 Election Crilly polled 660 votes and Smith polled 1250 votes.
Dick Roches first attempt at a Dail seat in 1987. He won a seat. Nothing much to it only a lovely picture of Dick and a few other bibs and bobs.
A sorry I Missed you card from a ‘stylish’, now Irish Times Editor, Geraldine Kennedy in 1987. Madams profession is listed as a Journalist, Larry Lohans as a Teacher and Helen Keogh as ‘Housewife’.
Kennedy served one Dail term and lost her seat in 1989.
This is a policy doc sent out by the PDs to their members in late 86 I think. Very relevant regarding Seanad Abolition
1987 and the tax burden on the PAYE worker was massive. The tax rates for PAYE workers were 40% and 65%.
Even after the tax marches of the 70s and 80s there was still a major issue in that sectors of society such as the self-emplyed/farmers and the super rich were able to avoid paying tax. In hindsight, we also know now of the non resident accounts, Ansbacher and so on.
As far as I’m aware, The Tax Reform League only fielded candidates in one general election and may not have been registered as a party at the time.
Their call to arms failed to excite the electorate with none of their candidates being elected. Mairead Duchon polled 1,253 votes.
From the records I have a second TRL candidate, Padraig O’Neill, may have stood in the constituency also, without much success either.
A fresh faced former PD party leader Michael McDowell, in the 1987 General Election. Contains a profile of him, a message from Dessie O’Malley about him and of course a message from Michael McDowell himself. His pastimes included ‘reading and running’.
Garret Fitzgerald topped the poll on the day, with Ruairi Quinn, Gerard Brady and Michael McDowell all winning seats too. Amongst the vanquished were Mary McAleese, Eoin Ryan, Aengus O Snodaigh and Joe Doyle.
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.
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.
From the 1987 General Election in Waterford.
A letter from Jackie Fahey who pleads with voters to help him out after the constituency has been redrawn.
Also Profiles of the 3 Candidates, Brian Swift, Donal Ormone and Jackie Fahey.
Brian Swift looks as if hes listed his mundane hobbies to fill space.
Faheys brithplace of Clonmel, County Waterford is still the postal address for some parts of West Waterford, such as The Nire and Ballinamult. Fahey and Swift won seats for Fianna Fail. That election also marked the election of the then PD Martin Cullen to the Dail and the defeat of Fine Gael TD Eddie Collins who had held a seat since 1969.
This is the front page of a PD paper type manifesto from 1987.(Apologies for the scan but its two scans put together like a jigsaw, so I’ll do the rest of the pages at a later date).You may need to click on the image to see the full details
Whats brilliant is the following bill put forward in 1986 which included the following….
-Ending pensions to sitting TDs
-Terminating the Senate
-Reducing the number of TDs from 166 to 120
-Reducing the number of junior ministers from 15 to 7 …etc
Does that ring a bell anyone?
“….we are assailed from many quarters, and by determined individuals advancing their own sectional interest to our detriment…”
Ring a bell? a good deal of this could be applied to today.
I just like the design of these two leaflets, the mother carrying her shopping with a boy and girl either side, the warm greeting ‘Dia bhur mbeatha’ and even the colurs are unusual for election flyers.
Martin MacFeorais polled 107 votes.
A boyish Aengus in his first General election outing in 1987. This Leaflet has the Sinn Fein Policies at the back and also included the standard 1987 Sinn Fein Literature with a profile of Aengus.
A stern looking Charlie with what some people have credited as being the catalyst that led to the Celtic Tiger. This is an abridged 6 page version. (I have the full thing which I will scan st some stage). You will see what became ‘Partnership’ get a mention.
Click on the images to enlarge.
Irish Election Literature 
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