Geography plays a major part in Irish elections, especially in larger rural constituencies. Often transfers are done locally rather than party wise. The nature of things is that more appears to be done in an area or town which has a TD than not.
John Bracken -‘Man of the People’ – Laois-Offaly 2007
John Bracken from 2007, where he got a lot of media coverage due to his posters, literature and a campaign song but mainly because of his looks.
His policies were sensible enough but he didn’t get a huge vote. He failed again to win a seat in the 2009 local elections.
1987 Leaflet concerning the closure of Sir Patrick Dunns Hospital from Tom Crilly and Andy Smith – Workers Party Dublin South East
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.
Colm Callanan – Christian Solidarity Party 2007 November 4, 2009
Colm Callanan who stood in Laois-Offaly and Longford-Westmeath in the 2007 GE and also in 10 different LEAs in the 2009 local elections….
His electoral record at Elections.org
Its nice to put a face to a name.
Colm only wants your Number 1 votes (“…a No 2 vote, regrettably, is of little use to me”).
Colm promises “…to take action on … homosexual adoption, increasing levels of porn in newsagents, sexual innuendo in TV ads, etc”
Phil Kearney -Green- 1985 LE Ballybrack
This is from the 1985 Local election, Ballybrack ward. Apologies that the scan is so poor. I’ll try and redo it in due course.
Looking back a quarter of a century on, a number of things stand out, amongst them,
‘Stop and Reverse the Growth of Dublin’
A sign of the times too that Acid Rain was seen as the big threat as Global Warming wasn’t known about.
‘Energy Efficient homes- major insulation scheme needed to stop hypothermia, ‘
‘An end to Land Rezoning / Speculation scandal. Tax unused property.’
‘Double Jobbing- Councillors should not also be T.Ds or Euro M.P.s’.
Sellafield still known as Windscale.
Also the reference to Bishopscourt peace camp, which was a camp beside bishopscourt radar base in Co Down that ran from 1983 to 1986.
Theres a pamphlet from Bishopscourt here
Pat Upton- Labour- Dublin South Central 1997
The late Pat Uptons last election campaign. This leaflet gives the mark of the man , his experience, his attitude to fairness in Society and you can see that his politics is in the mould of the late Frank Cluskeys. His early passing at just 54 years of age deprived the public of an excellent representative.
Alan Dukes Led Fine Gael- Dun Laoghaire 1989 November 3, 2009
An Alan Dukes led Fine Gael in the 1989 General election. “Putting the Country First” was the Slogan. The Tallaght strategy is not mentioned by name but refered to as ‘The revolution of Consensus Politics’. The ‘Alan’ of his signature looks as if it may have a letter or two too many.
The familiar Barnes , Barrett, Cosgrave ticket was running for Fine Gael. Both Barnes and Barrett held their seats.
Irish Socialist Network -‘Resistance’ November/December 2007 -pt 1
This is the first four pages of the Newsletter ‘Resistance’ November/December 2007 issueproduced by the Irish Socialist Network. (I’ll put the inner fold up at a later date)
The ‘What we Stand For’ section explains the groups policys. To date John O’Neill has (to my knowledge) been their only candidate, running in the last two local elections and also in the last General Election.
Paula Desmond – Labour -1999 Euro Elections Munster.
Paula Desmond – Labour -1999 Euro Elections Munster.
A stylish Paula Desmond from the 1999 Euro Elections Munster constituency.
Paula was daughter of the late Eileen Desmond and the late Dan Desmond.
Eileen Desmond had served for many years as a TD and had also been elected to the European Parliament in 1979. Eileen Desmond initially won a Dail seat at the 1965 Cork Mid By-election caused by the death of her husband Dan Desmond. Dan Desmond had been a TD for over 16 years.
Diarmuid Naessens – Socialist Party 2004 South West Inner City
Diarmuid Naessens wasn’t elected although did outpoll one of the Fianna Fail candidates.
Another thing from that count was that of the SWPs Martin Donohoes 308 tranfers, he got just 84.
Naessens was a very active member of the anti bin tax campaign.
Dick Roche -Fianna Fail – Wicklow 1987
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.
John McManus- Workers Party- 1985 LE November 2, 2009
John McManus was a high profile and important member of The Workers Party, he is married to Liz McManus (in 1985 John McManus would have been a far more important political figure than Liz).
The ERDO report refers to the ‘Eastern Region Settlement Strategy 2011’ report from 1985. Presumably it envisaged Longford and Cavn as being in the Dublin commuter belt, or hinterland as it would have been known back then.
Lots of local stuff from the North Wicklow area which may be of interest to those that know the area.
Roisin Shortall -Labour -1997 Dublin North West
Plenty of good facts about 1997 here.
The Childrens allowance was £39, its now €166
‘84% of students now finish second level’ -Whats the figure now?
Water charges and Residential Property Tax both scrapped look to be on the way back.
Other bits of interest there too.
Fianna Fail National Collection 1985. November 1, 2009
Fianna Fail are gathering their war chest for the 1985 local elections…
“Please contribute generously to our collectors when they call.” asks Charlie.
At the last elections Fianna Fail were afraid to call to the door looking for your vote….
.. can you imagine them calling to the door looking for your money?
“If you are not at home when they call please post your contribution to Fianna Fail Headquarters ….”
Also “When making your contribution ask the collector for identification”
Nothing as to who to make a Cheque out to? and I cant help but imagine certain individuals ripping open envelopes with glee.
Olga Bennett- ‘Why Me?’- Fianna Fail 1992
1992 and Dubli Central had been dramatically redrawn. Twice Dublin West candidate and Cllr for Ballyfermot Senator Olga Bennett finds herself on the Fianna Fail ticket with Bertie Ahern and Dermot Fitzpatrick.
Despite using the title of Linda Mrtins Eurovision winning song as a slogan she polled 1,087 votes and Aherns healthy surplus wasn’t enough to help herself or Dermot Fitzpatrick over the line.
‘Women in An Ireland Of Equals’- Sinn Fein 2002 GE
Sinn Fein show off all their female candidates sitting and standing happily with a smiling Gerry Adams. The Back of the leaflet covers issues such as equal pay, childcare etc..
Richard Conroy, Mary Gray, Owen Hammond, David Kane- FF -Ballybrack 1985
One of Professor Richard Conroys runs for public office (He served in the Senate). Conroy has been involved in many exploration projects through various companies such as Conroy Diamonds and Gold and also Conroy petroleum.
From David Kanes profile you’ll notice a number of local issues such as Dun Laoghaire Baths that are still contentious.
(more…)
Des O’Malley -Munster- Euro 94
1994 Euro Elections Munster constituency. A split in the PDs led to Pat Cox standing as an Independent and Des O’Malley standing for the PDs . Cox despite being behind O’Malley on the first count took the last seat.
It was O’Malleys first election not being the party leader.
Irish Election Literature 
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