Irish Election Literature

… what you maybe meant to keep…

Election Leaflet for Tony O’Hara -H-Block -1981 Dublin West March 30, 2010

Filed under: H-Block — irishelectionliterature @ 12:00 pm
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Firstly many thanks to the donor.
From the 1981 General Election Tony O’Hara (also refered to as Anthony),running on a H Block ticket in Dublin West.
Tony O’Hara was the brother of deceased hunger striker Patsy O’Hara. He recieved 3,034 votes.
For those like myself who lived through the time of the Hunger Strike this leaflet brings back memories. Memories of the posters of the Hunger Strikers,the posters of Maggie Thatcher Wanted for murder, people wearing Black armbands, black flags on lampposts and the other protest marches in Dublin at the time.
In the leaflet, amongst others things are a biography of Tony O’Hara and The Hunger Strikers Five Demands
1. The right to wear their own clothes.
2. The right to refrain from compulsory do prison work, use the time for education in vocational, craft or culture fields.
3. Free association with other political prisoners
4. One letter, one parcel and one visit per week.
5. Restoration of remission of sentence lost through the protest.

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Bernie Malone -Labour Party -1994 European Elections March 25, 2010

Filed under: Euro Elections,Labour Party — irishelectionliterature @ 10:40 am
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From the 1994 European Elections, Labour candidate Bernie Malone. Bernie Malone , a Malahide based councillor was co-opted to replace sitting MEP Barry Desmond in 1992. She was chosen as the Labour candidate at the selection convention only for Orla Guerin to be added to the ticket. Bernie Malone wasn’t happy and the two candidates developed a ‘rivralry’.
In the end it was Bernie Malone who won a seat.

 

‘Dear Friend’ -Bertie Ahern Letter to Electors 1992 Dublin Central March 19, 2010

Filed under: Bertie,Dublin Central,Fianna Fail — irishelectionliterature @ 2:23 pm
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From the 1992 General Election in Dublin Central. A letter from Bertie Ahern to constituents. ‘Dear Friend’ it begins with…..
Amongst other things, Bertie writes that he has “one simple aim in life as a public representative: to work with the community of Dublin-Central in improving the quality of life for as many constituents as possible.”

 

US Military Out of Shannon -Peace Concert – Irish Anti War Movement- September 2005 March 18, 2010

Filed under: Irish anti war movement,protest — irishelectionliterature @ 10:13 am
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From 2005 a flyer for an Irish Anti War Movement event. A protest march and Peace concert as part of the ‘US Military Out of Shannon’ campaign. Artists advertised for the day included The Revs, Jimi Cullen, The Chapters, Pete Courtney, Cypher, Dermot Byrne, 22, Idle Hands and Mark O’Connor.

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Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant 1912 March 15, 2010

Filed under: Pre 1970,ulster — irishelectionliterature @ 10:12 am
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From 1912 an original copy of ‘Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant’ sent in by a kind donor who writes…..
This is not election literature but very political nevertheless and probably one of the most important documents of the 20th century.
In fact, it’s probably the Unionist equivalent of the Proclamation.
It’s ‘Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant’ known as ‘The Covenant’ from 1912. Many of the most ardent opponents of Home Rule were said to have signed it in their own blood, not the only blood spilled over that bill.

The text of the Covenant  is
‘Ulster’s Solemn League and Covenant
Being convinced in our consciences that Home Rule would be disastrous to the material well-being of Ulster as well as of the whole of Ireland, subversive of our civil and religious freedom, destructive of our citizenship and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of his Gracious Majesty King George V, humbly relying on the God whom our fathers in days of stress and trial confidently trusted, do hereby pledge ourselves in solemn Covenant throughout this our time of threatened calamity to stand by one another in defending for ourselves and our children our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom and in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland. And in the event of such a Parliament being forced upon us we further solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognise its authority. In sure confidence that God will defend the right we hereto subscribe our names. And further, we individually declare that we have not already signed this Covenant.

The above was signed by me at ____________

Ulster Day, Saturday 28th, September, 1912.

God Save the King ‘

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Fine Gael membership form in Lithuanian March 12, 2010

Filed under: Fine Gael — irishelectionliterature @ 10:33 am
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Something that reflects one of the changes in Ireland in the last twenty years.
A Fine Gael membership form in Lithuanian.
My Lituanian wouldn’t be great so I’m at a loss as to what it says. (I guess Endas not fluent either so it could be saying anything about him)
In other words…
Tai, kas atspindi vienas iš Airijos pokyčiai per pastaruosius dvidešimt metų. Fine Gael “narystė formą lietuvių kalba.
Mano Lietuviški neturėtų būti didelis, kad aš ne kaip į praradimą, ką ji sako. (I guess Endas negali laisvai arba kad ji galėtų būti pasakyti nieko apie jį)

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Mary Banotti -Fine Gael -1997 Presidential Election March 11, 2010

Filed under: Fine Gael,presidency — irishelectionliterature @ 9:00 am
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From the 1997 Presidential Election, Fine Gael candidate Mary Banotti. Mary Banotti polled almost 30% of the vote in a contest won by Mary McAleese. In the wake of Mary Robinsons success, of the five candidate (an unprecedented number) four were women, Dana, Mary McAleese, Adi Roche and Mary Banotti with Derek Nally the sole male candidate.
Mary Banotti had both tradition, being in the Michael Collins bloodline and a career of caring to do well. Also even in 1997 it was unusual for a politician to announce they were separated.

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Irish Anti Apartheid Movement Posters and Flyers March 9, 2010

Filed under: protest — irishelectionliterature @ 9:47 am
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A selection of posters from the Irish Anti Apartheid Movement. The address on the posters is that of Kader Asmal , co founder of the IAAM, who later became a minister in South Africas first post apartheid government. The IAAM were founded in 1963 and continued until the early 1990s.
(the following is from a speech made by Louise Asmal about the Irish Anti Apartheid Movement)
“We had very little funding that we did not raise ourselves – and here I should pay tribute to the many musicians who sang for us at concerts, and often turned down lucrative offers to tour South Africa as well. Poets like Seamus Heaney read for us, Sean O’Casey and Samuel Beckett were among the first signatories of a list of playwrights who refused to allow their plays to be performed in South Africa.
But of course it was the sports boycott which aroused the most passion and the most controversy. (1969-’70 Springbok rugby tour – 8000).
In 1984 Mary Manning, a young trade unionist working in a supermarket in Dublin, refused to register the sale of an Outspan grapefruit. She and 10 others who supported her were suspended, and went on strike for three and a half years. For those three and a half years we organized a Saturday picket outside the store, but management refused to respond to our letters and refused to meet us. In 1987 the Irish Government imposed sanctions on South African fruit and produce.”

You will see ‘Outspan’ and ‘Cape’ fruit refered to in one of the posters below.

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Micheál Martin -Fianna Fail -2007 GE- Cork South Central March 8, 2010

Filed under: Cork,Fianna Fail — irishelectionliterature @ 11:40 am
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From the 2007 General Election in Cork South Central. Fianna Fail candidate, the current Minister of Foregin Affairs Micheál Martin.
Amongst the issues shown are his role in the smoking ban as well as a host of projects in Cork that he was linked with.

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Chris Andrews -Fianna Fail -1999 Local Elections Pembroke March 4, 2010

Filed under: Fianna Fail — irishelectionliterature @ 9:40 am
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From the 1999 local elections, Fianna Fail candidate Chris Andrews running in the Pembroke Ward. Chris Andrews was elected, his running mate Liz Donnelly lost out.
He lost his seat in 2004, before being co-opted in 2006 and then winning a Dail seat in Dublin South East in 2007.
Chris Andrews is son of Niall Andrews, grandson of Todd Andrews, nephew of David Andrews and of course a cousin of amongst others Dun Laoghaire TD Barry Andrews and RTEs Ryan Tubridy.

Again for a Dublin South East based candidate the background for the photo is the Pidgeon house. Amongst the issues covered here are the needs for Taxi deregulation and more recycling and better waste management.

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Killian Forde-Donaghmede Sinn Fein Special Bulletin 2004 on Donaghmede Probation Office March 2, 2010

Filed under: Sinn Fein — irishelectionliterature @ 1:19 pm
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From April 2004 in the run up to the 2004 local and European Elections, a Donaghmede Sinn Fein special Bulletin on Donaghmede Probation Office.
Then Sinn Fein candidate Killian Forde writes of the true costs of the project and the link between prominent Fianna Fail donors and the location of the office.
Other concerns include the fact that other sites weren’t inspected, the cost overruns, waste of public money and only a part of the offices capacity being used.
Is the office fully occupied now?

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Joe Holohan -Democratic Left -Dublin North by-election 1998

Filed under: Democratic Left,Elections — irishelectionliterature @ 10:47 am
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Joe Holohan of The Democratic Left from the Dublin North by -Election held on the 11th of March 1998.
It was the last day that The Democratic Left appeared on a ballot paper (There was a by-election in Limerick East on the same day).
Joe Holohan polled just 225 votes coming in behind amongst others the Christian Solidarity Party.(result at electionsireland.org) The vote surely helped speed along the merger with the Labour party which happened less than a year later.

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Letter to Irish Times and Poster advertising First meeting of The Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981 March 1, 2010

Filed under: Ecology Party of Ireland,Green Party,Green Party/ Green Alliance — irishelectionliterature @ 4:12 pm
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In 1981  Christopher Fettes wrote a letter (below) to the Irish Times enquiring if anyone was interested in setting up an Irish Ecology Party. He got around 80 responses. In turn this led to a meeting of all those interested. This is the poster Advertising the first meeting.
The Ecology Party of Ireland did not field any candidates in the February 1982 election, but did field seven candidates
in the November 1982 Election.(Seven candidates were needed to get coverage on RTE). These Seven were Roger Garland in Dublin South (950 votes) ,Maire Mullarney in Dublin South East (312), Aidan Meagher (188) in Dublin North West, Liam DeSuin (463) in Wicklow, Richard Power in Limerick East (177), Owen Casey (1307) Cork South Central and Elizabeth Ryder (319) in Cork South West.
Many members were unhappy with the name of the new Party and with Greens such as Petra Kelly in Germany household names the name of the Party was changed. On April the 12th 1984 ‘The Green Alliance/ An Comhaontas Glas’ formally applied to be registered as a political Party.
Many thanks to the donor.

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Niall Ó Brolcháins First Leaflet -Green Party -Galway West February 27, 2010

Filed under: Green Party,Green Party/ Green Alliance — irishelectionliterature @ 2:38 pm
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A leaflet sent out by the now Senator Niall Ó Brolcháin in Galway West. I’m not sure exactly when but I suspect it was prior to the 2002 General Election.
Issues covered include Solving the Waste Crisis, Organic Farming, Green Spaces, Balanced regional development and of course Water Quality.

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Noel Whelan , Eoin Ryan -Fianna Fail- 1997 GE Dublin South East February 26, 2010

Filed under: Fianna Fail,media — irishelectionliterature @ 2:27 pm
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From the 1997 General Election, the now Irish Times Pundit Noel Whelan with running Mate Eoin Ryan on the Fianna Fail Ticket in Dublin South East. Ryan was elected.
A fairly detailed version of ‘New Kid on the block’ Whelans career, which is  impressive.  At 28 he was the parties youngest candidate in Dublin.

Also in the “Protecting Home Buyers Rights” section…
‘Many young people are also deeply concerned about escalating house costs and the current over heating of the Dublin property market….’

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Charles Haughey- Message to Electorate Fianna Fail 1987

Filed under: Fianna Fail,haughey — irishelectionliterature @ 1:26 pm
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The generic Fianna Fail 1987 leaflet which would have had candidate details inside. The Message from Charles Haughey to the electorate is interesting.
In similar enough times to now, Haughey had an emphasis on providing employment.
“..People are looking for leadership, for the restoration of confidence and better management of their affairs..”

*A 6 page version of The Programme for National Recovery’ is posted here

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Mary McAleese ,Gerard Brady, Michael Donnelly and Eoin Ryan -Fianna Fail -Dublin South East 1987 February 25, 2010

Filed under: Fianna Fail,presidency — irishelectionliterature @ 12:37 pm
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From the 1987 General Election in Dublin South East. The fianna Fail candidates of Mary McAleese, Gerard Brady, Michael Donnelly and Eoin Ryan.
Gerard Brady won a seat. (result at electionsireland.org)  
The profiles of all the candidates have items of interest.

For instance Mary McAleese was a member of the Roman Catholic Episcopal Delegation to the New Ireland Forum. Who remembers her now from her time on RTE Radio and Television. Eoin Ryan is a graduate of Kildalton Horticultural College.

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Ross O’Mullane -United Minds -Dublin South By-Election 2009 February 24, 2010

Filed under: Dublin South,Independent,United Minds — irishelectionliterature @ 1:04 pm
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From the 2009 Dublin South By-Election, United Minds/ Independent candidate Ross O’Mullane. He polled 650 votes
O’Mullane writes….
If elected I will enable every citizen in Dublin South to speak and vote on decisions that affect us all using our website http://www.unitedminds.ie.
The idea of consulting constituents over decisions is not new, nor was it new to Dublin South.
In 1997 Gerard Dolan stood for Political Organisation for Work(POW) and planned to ask voters each month their views on issues that were to come up in the Dail.

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